Cinderella Gundam Style
by Gothic Melting Icecream
Summary: Having Relena as your stepsister can be a living hell, having her as your enemy is even worse...
1. Prologue

Cinderella – Gundam Style

**Disclaimer:** I don't own GW. Sue me, and all you get is my sock and my notebook.

**Warnings: **The usual. This story is shonen-ai so if you don't like, go find something in the action/adventure section.

Prologue

Home sweet home. Right. Yeah. I stopped being able regard that phrase with anything other than deep cynicism a long time ago. This may be home – for severe lack of any other place – but it's sure as hell anything but sweet. The lack of the warm fuzzies whenever I enter the house is the reason why I spend most of my time at work and school. There, I have willing-to-follow-you-to-the-ends-of-the-Earth friends, people that care about me and truly, they are a much better family than the one I have at home. Life's just that much nicer when people acknowledge you as something more than 'that loud-mouthed annoyance', don'cha think?

The people I share a house with - I felt that it would be too facetious to call them my family – consist of my mother, a step-father and a step-sister. My father died of cancer many years ago and since then I have never called another man 'father' even though my mother has re-married. It was weird; she married almost immediately after my dad's death to some rich guy. His name is Richard Dorlain. He has a daughter called Relena - I'll tell you about her later.

Now that my mum's moved up in the world (although some would say that she's hit a new low), her ego has grown exponentially (I guess so she fits in with all the other rich assholes) and thus, her and Richard want their children to act in an 'appropriate' manner suitable for millionaires. The reason I hate home so much is, well... because their definition of 'appropriate' and mine are so different they don't even exist in the same dimension. To put it simply: they hate me – although I feel that maybe mum's just (exceedingly) disappointed. They hate who I am, what I am, how I act and what I believe in. They believe it's not 'appropriate' behaviour. You see, I'm not 'popular at school' (whatever the hell that's supposed to even _mean_), and I actually _work, _like some sort of 'commoner', to get my money seeing as how I refuse accept money from _him _(not that he'd give me any anyway) . They don't like my friends 'cause they're too weird (their words not mine) or the way I act. Oh yeah, I'm also gay, and, well, they _really_ don't like that. You should have seen their reaction when I told them that; my mother went white as a sheet; my step-father stormed out of the room and Relena fainted. And I just stood there laughing my ass off at the whole thing. It was _priceless_.

Now Relena, she's _perfect _(again, their words not mine); Daddy's Little Girl. Quite frankly, I don't think that's an..._appropriate_ title for one such as her. 'Daddy's Little Devil' is much more fitting. She's all coy and demure in front of her father and my mother; she's everything I'm not – and I have to say I'm pleased about that. Me? Demure? Ha! But when we get to school, she's a little bitch. She hates me - actually has a deep-seeded hatred of me and people like me, so she dedicates her time to making my life a living hell. Sorta pathetic, right? So I stay out of her way, so that I don't have to talk to her or have any contact with her and so she has to stay out of my way, or face revealing to the world how much of a life she _doesn't_ have. That's the way it was and that was the way it was gonna stay. Well until _he_ walked into my life; until _he_ came into our lives. Until Heero arrived, that was how it was. Now, don't get me wrong, Heero's the best thing that has happened to me. It's just, well life got considerably harder when _he_ came…


	2. You saved me!

Cinderella – Gundam Style

**Disclaimer: **Check first chapter.

**Warnings: **In the first chapter.

In case you hadn't figured it out, Duo is telling the story.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I can't believe you like my stories!

xXx

Chapter 1 – You saved me

It all started on a Monday morning – what, did you think I was gonna start my story with 'Once upon a time'? Don't make me laugh. Anyway. I, personally, don't like Monday mornings, even though I like school, but after the events that transpired on that fateful day, I am a lot more inclined towards them. In any case, my alarm went off right in my ear, sounding like someone had just stepped on a cat (or Relena when she found that huge spider that I put in her bed) and I slammed my fist down on it to make it shut up, because as you know, I didn't like Monday mornings. (Un)fortunately, it didn't break, but just flew off the table out of my reach, meaning that I had to get up to shut it up. So I got out of bed in my half-conscious state and got ready for school. I was so happy that we didn't have to wear the school uniform; brown wasn't really my colour.

I had to be ready by 8:00 to catch a ride with Quatre because he's adamant about being on time. Well I could take the car with Relena but a) who in their right mind would willingly travel with Relena? b) Quatre's my friend and c) the way Richard used money like it was toilet paper actually made me sick and I couldn't stomach the thought of using the tacky things he buys, which includes the pink Lexus that my _dear sister_ takes to school every morning.

So I made my own breakfast because the cook is a stuck up twat who keeps on trying to give me food poisoning. Five minutes after having finished eaten, Quatre pulled up in his silver Lamborghini (1) and we took off to school.

We met up with Meiran at the gate and walked up to the building, where Quatre proceeded to ask his usual question, right on cue.

"Have you seen Trowa, Meiran?"

"Cafeteria." was all she said and Quatre was off like a shot.

"Isn't that sweet? They can't bear to be apart from each other too long, even though they were probably together yesterday. Enough to give you cavities." I said, laughing as I nudged Meiran with my elbow.

"Hey! They're in _love_. Cut them some slack, eh?" Meiran chided as she nudged me back, and a great deal harder than I did. Ow. We were about to go in after Quatre when some younger kids pushed passed us in their school uniform. Looking at it reminded me how lucky we were to not have to wear that vulgar school uniform.

"Hey! Rude, much!" shouted Meiran as we made our way to the cafeteria. We finally got there to see that Quatre and Trowa were…um…busy. You'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in about a year, the way they were kissing. I coughed to get their attention. No response. I coughed louder. Nothing. I called their names. Nada. Soon I was really pissed (I just can't stand being ignored), so I just yanked them away from each other.

"Oh! Duo! When did you get here?" Quatre asked innocently. Don't let Quatre's looks fool you; he's anything but innocent. Trowa, I could have sworn, was glaring at me for interrupting. I almost screamed in pure frustration but, for fear of Trowa's wrath, just plonked myself down at the table. I got the last laugh, however, because I wedged myself in between Quatre and Trowa. Meiran stood there laughing herself to hiccups, and then she sat down next to Trowa. We chatted about our weekend, during which I couldn't help but notice that even though I was smack-dab in the middle of them, I could see that Quatre and Trowa were wondering off into their own little world. You see, Quatre and Trowa are _very _open about their relationship. I mean there were plenty of people that morning in the cafeteria, but that didn't stop them. You just gotta admire them for it.

xXx

We were in the form room, waiting for the teacher to arrive. I usually used that time to catch up on the sleep that my alarm cheated me out of so my head was on my desk and I was trying to sleep. It was interrupted however – and sooner than I was accustomed to – as the teacher came in suddenly and announced that we were having two new students that had come here from the colony L1. My head came up at that because it's not often we have new students, especially from the colonies, and my jaw dropped down. I swear I felt it hit the desk. After I put my jaw back in its place, I looked round to see if anyone had noticed. I saw Relena perking up a bit and sitting up straighter in her chair. I watched as she fixed her hair and arranged her clothes to look better on her, and I genuinely felt sorry for the object of her affections (and I'm not just saying that to be a smart-ass. Okay, maybe just a little). Quatre was smirking at me so I glared back at him then faced the front. There were two new boys; the first one, Wufei, was a bit taller than me, with black hair pulled into a tight pony-tail. He had ebony black eyes and looked Asian. He was slim in build and was wearing a black T, jeans and trainers. He stood confidently at the front with his arms crossed, meeting the stare of anyone who tried to challenge him.

His brother (I assumed, I wasn't actually paying attention to what the teacher was saying), on the other hand, was fucking gorgeous! His name was Heero and he had chocolate brown hair that fell in thick locks around his head, a few falling into his eyes that he would try to shift but they always fell back. He looked …focused. His eyes met mine for a split second and I felt my heart freeze in my chest as I was caught in his gaze, before continuing at an elevated pace. His Prussian blue eyes were deep and seemed so passionate, yet everything about him screamed control, from the expression on his face to the way he moved. He was small; short and slim but he looked powerful and his frank stare was intimidating. Whereas his brother gave off an air of confidence he had one of intensity draped around him.

The only spare seats were next to Meiran and me so Heero ended up sat next to me and Wufei sat next to Meiran. It was strange but for the first time in my life I felt…hesitant in attempting to talk to him.

"Hi, my name is Duo Maxwell." I greeted in a whisper, as the teacher was giving a lecture on What Is Expected Of Us. "Nice to meet you Heero. Since you're new here, you can hang with me and my friends until you've found your way, if you want."

"Hn, thanks." he replied. I was taken aback by his bluntness but I still pressed on.

"Alright, I'll meet you and you brother outside homeroom and help you with your schedule, okay?"

"Fine."

xXx

It turned out that he had the same schedule as his brother. I think it was to make it easier on the both of them. The first lesson was with me, then the next two with Quatre and the last three with Trowa and Meiran. Trowa and Meiran headed off towards the other building, while Quatre (who was headed to English) Heero, Wufei and I headed off in the opposite direction. We were discussing schedules on our way to Chemistry when I bumped into something hard, and fell flat on my ass. Quatre helped me up, and I ended up face to chest with Jason. Now I'm not usually bullied; I may look it but I am certainly not a push over and I can take on anyone. But Jason is HUGE and my punches barely faze him – I should know – and ever since he found out I was gay – thanks to Relena – it's gotten worse.

"Hey fag, I thought I told you we don't want queers like you in my school." he spat. It was a standard greeting from him. I don't know why he thought calling me names would hurt my feelings, but…whatever.

"Hey, I'm not the one running around in form-fitting clothing, grabbing other boys in inappropriate places on the rugby pitch." I retorted.

There was silence, and I could hear the wheels turning in his head, trying to work out whether he had just been insulted. Then, once he finally realised what I'd said, he lunged at me, pretty damn pissed off. I ducked under the first blow, my leg snapping out in sharp kick to his knee. At the last moment though, Jason turned his leg and my attacked bounced uselessly off his thigh. He lunged at me again and I danced backwards out of the way, his fingers just brushing against my t-shirt. Unfortunately I was tripped by one of his friends, lost my balance and stumbled back, arms flailing around trying not to fall on my ass. I could see him drawing his fist back and, knowing that there would be no way for me to avoid it, I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow. It never came. I opened my eyes to see Jason on his stomach on the floor, his arms bent behind his back by none other than Heero, who was sitting on his back telling Jason something. Then, with one more jerk to his arms, Heero got up and turned to face me. Making my way round Jason, who was groaning on the floor, we carried on walking with Quatre to Chemistry. I thanked him profusely for his help while we walked.

"Hn.No problem." he told me as he went to open the door to the labs.

"Hey where did you learn to do that?" I asked him going through the door after him.

"My brother and I have been learning different forms of self-defence from when we were little." And that was that. He acted like it was no big deal. He did this for me because he wanted to and he barely even knew me. It looked, to me, like it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

I was hoping for more.

xXx

(1) As you can tell, cars aren't my strong point :(


	3. Authors Note

**Authors Note**

****

*Dodges rotten fruit, veg and a …cat..?* *raises eyebrow suspiciously*

I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I haven't updated but school's just started and those baka teachers decided that we need to have a week of tests*mumbles threateningly under her breath* 

AND the dreaded writers block from the ninth circle of Hell (thankies maldoror) decided to attack me and I had just taken my flamethrower to the repair shop because it spontaneously – combusted from too much use…*takes a breath finally* so I'll have to try and get it out by Friday.

^_^;;

SORRY!  


	4. That bitch is going down!

**Cinderella – Gundam Wing style**

**Disclaimer: **In the first chapter

**Warnings: **Swearing, Relena – bashing and um…Oh yeah! Shonen-ai pairings.

Chapter 3

Lunch. It's the best part of the day, well in my opinion anyway. The only thing I like about Mondays is that we have lunch first. We'd just left A.P. Calc and were making our way to the cafeteria. I was about two feet in front of everyone else, of course because I hadn't eaten since breakfast and that was…four whole hours ago! I got hungry easily because I had a fast metabolism. My dad did as well. My mum could never understand how we could go out and eat something and then return home and still be hungry. So we got our food, sat down and started eating.

"Where does he put it all?" WuFei asked, somewhat amazed and yet disgusted at the same time.

"We don't know. We haven't been able to figure it out." Quatre said before I could. But then again I did have half a slice ofpizza and fries in my mouth. That was when Trowa and Meiran showed up.

"Hey, why are you guys so late?" Quatre asked because I'd just stuffed some more fries in my mouth.

"I was in the toilet." Meiran said.

"I got a detention." Trowa answered, flopping down in the seat next to Quatre. By this time I was able to speak without losing any of my food, so I did.

"Again? Why?" I'm such an intellectual speaker, aren't I?

"That boy, Nick, was making fun of Quatre again. So I punched him and broke his nose." Quatre smiled.

"Wow, doesn't he ever learn? That's like the 10th time you've beaten him up."

"Yeah." I contributed. A powerful speech, I know. Trowa then turned to Quatre and they got lost in their own conversation. Meiran sat next to me and we got into a heated discussion about…cheese. I mean cheese is so not the greatest food in the world. But Meiran seems to think so, because, and I quote 'There are so many different types of cheese, so there is so many to choose from'. But cheese is SMELLY. I think the best the best invention since the microwave…or was that before the…oh never mind. Anyway the best food is the sandwich. You can put so many things in it.

"Look! I'm not gonna argue with someone who thinks that Johnny Depp is ugly!" I told her

"But the fact of the matter is that HE IS UGLY!"

"WRONG! He is so fit, especially in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'." (1) But Meiran still wasn't listening. Then, a slightly nasal voice chipped in,

"Johnny Depp did look nice as 'Captain Jack Sparrow' in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'." And he gave a small smirk as well. I was stunned, and I wasn't the only one. I mean it didn't seem like Heero to _offer _to speak, but I quickly overcame my surprise and slung an arm over his shoulders. A shiver went through my body from the contact. Heero tensed under my arm but relaxed almost immediately.

"Yeah! Heero has the right idea. He Is Fit. Full stop. End of story." Heero hadn't shrugged my arm off so it was up to me to remove it myself. Way too hard. So I put it around his waist. He didn't do anything. I was about to talk to Heero when suddenly I saw a flash of pink and my whole body tensed involuntarily. Meiran noticed.

"Hey Duo, are you okay?" she asked.

"No. Her Royal Pinkness is coming in at 3 o'clock. I think she's heading directly for us." I growled. I removed my arm from Heero's waist and turned to face in her direction fully. But when she arrived she just spoke to Heero, ignoring the rest of us.

"Hello Heero. How are you liking it here so far?I was wondering if you would like to come over tonight. We could go to the movies and have dinner together. But if you're going to be my..._ahem_..._friend _then you can't hang around with riff-raff like these people." I rolled my eyes at her. I mean I'd heard this so many times. But she still went on.

"I mean, why would you _want_ to hang around with people like this? Take Duo for example," she sneered at me, "He's just a gutter-rat that my father decided to take in out of the goodness in his heart. And he's a fag anyway." Heero's eyes widened slightly at this, and for no-emotional Heero, that spoke volumes. My heart sank at this. I hadn't even thought about how they would react. Relena saw it too

"You mean you didn't know! Well I'm surprised he hasn't hit on you already. Him and his queer friends." My fists were clenched hard enough to draw blood I was so angry. I glared for all I was worth, but it made no difference whatsoever. "Come on Heero. You too WuFei. Let's leave the fags alone." She said haughtily.

"No." WuFei said and turned back to his food. Relena looked stunned for a minute then she turned to Heero.

"Well come on Heero. Leave your brother and come with me. I need to give you the details of tonight."

"No." Heero told her. Meanwhile I was stunned. I thought they were gonna leave.

"What? Oh don't be silly Heero. You don't want to stay here with these freaks of nature." I was livid. I was gonna hit her. I started to rise. I didn't care if it was against the rules or that I shouldn't hit a girl. I was beyond caring, but Heero's voice stopped me cold.

"Fuck off Relena. I want nothing to do with you." he told her calmly.Relena was speechless. She stood there, doing a remarkable impression of a fish out of water. That is opening and closing her mouth. Then she turned and stormed out of the cafeteria. I was speechless too, and that was a feat onto itself. I was about to speak when the bell went. I hung behind to talk to Heero.

"Thanks Heero." I said to him, "But why'd you wanna stay with us instead of going with Relena."

"Firstly, you were the first people to befriend us. Secondly, I don't mind if you're gay and thirdly, I HATE the colour pink." And with that he walked off to his brother.

Wow. You learn a new thing everyday!

xXx

Sorry this took so long to get out but that writer's block just wouldn't budge. ;

(1) In "Pirates of the Caribbean" he does look GORGEOUS!


	5. I'm too sexy for my shirt

I just drifted through the rest of my classes that day. I just couldn't concentrate! First of all I couldn't believe that Heero turned Relena down and told her to 'fuck off'. And he let me put my arm around his waist. I just didn't get that. I just didn't get _him_.

After school I saw Heero and Wufei about to make their way home so I ran over to stop them and ask them if they wanted to play basketball after school. Quatre, Trowa, Meiran and I usually played in the park that was just a block away from the school. They said yes so we waited for the rest ofmy friendsto come out from the prison we are forced to call school – but at least it's better than the place that is supposed to be my 'home' – before making our way over to said park.

After scaring the other kids off of the court (it wasn't that hard, Heero just glared at them and they ran off yelling for their mums saying that there was a big scary boy) we split into teams. Since Quatre and Trowa didn't want to be split up, I _refused _to be on a team with the both of them - they'll never concentrate on a game with each other in such close proximity – (the others didn't really care either way) the teams were as follows: Wufei, Meiran and me vs. Heero, Quatre and Trowa.

Heero and I were chosen for the tip off. The ball was thrown into the air so I readied myself to jump – there was no point. Heero leapt up like a cat, gracefulness and everything, and caught the ball before the force of gravity had decided to act on the ball and bring it down. I don't think 'surprised'is the right word to use for what I was feeling. I believe the term is "struck dumb" for I had forgotten we were playing a basketball game for a few precious seconds and was just standing there staring into the sky with a dazed expression on my face. Suddenly I snapped to my senses, hoping no one had noticed my lapse in sanity, and took off after the ball and the wielder of said ball, Heero Yuy. Let me tell you, that match was not easy. It was scorching hot that day, around 100 degrees; I'd already lost my shirt about halfway through the game. But that wasn't the main problem. The problem was Heero. Now I'm a very good basketball player, the best in my school, but I had a hard time keeping up with Heero. And I wasn't the only one because around the time I lost my shirt, Quatre and Meiran dropped out, claiming that they couldn't keep up with us. Pfft! Then, about half an hour after that Trowa and Wufei stopped playing. Personally, I think Trowa stopped because his boyfriend was no longer playing; I'm not too sure about why Wufei stopped. Soon it was just me and Heero left and I was running out of steam. We played for quite a while until the sun started to set.

"I win." he told me with that smug look on his face. I wanted so badly to punch him.

"Yeah! Only by one point so don't get too happy about it!" I then stuck my tongue out at him. Very mature. I think he thought so too.

"Hn. Whatever. I still won." It was then I collapsed onto the floor.

"Rub it in why don't you." It was then that he did something that I will never EVER forget. He reached down, grabbed onto the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head in one fluid movement, revealing rock hard abs rippling under unblemished, naturally tanned skin. His skin was glistening with a thin sheen of sweat from the day's earlier activities. This action thus caused me to revert back to my earlier impression of clueless-ness. I swear he did that on purpose. Then Trowa sat down next to me and whispered in my ear.

"Close your mouth, you're drooling." That snapped me right out of my funk enough to whip my head round and glare at him. He just smirked at me.

"Hey! Me and Heero are going to head home now." They had already turned away as Wufei called over his shoulder "We'll see you tomorrow in homeroom. Bye!" Heero just sent a wave over his shoulder.

"Bye." I got up off the floor having finally gotten my breath back. Next time, I was making sure Heero was on my team. Jeez! He was moving so fast down the court that it looked like he was flying.

"See ya Duo!" Quatre walked over to Trowa before heading off to Trowa's house.

"Hey Cat. Isn't your house in that direction?"

"I _know _that Duo but I'm going back to Trowa's."

"Oh. Okay! I'll see you two at school. Come _on_ Meiran. I need to go home." I really did. I hadn't eaten since…lunchtime! Oh and I was gonna get hell from Richard for being home late.

The reason Quatre goes over to Trowa's house so often is because Quatre's dad is much like mine. In that they're both filthy rich and are fiercely homophobic. Quatre told his father he was gay before I even realised I was and saying that his father didn't take it well is a massive understatement. His dad positively freaked and yelled at him for an hour about how _disgusting _that was and how he didn't bring up any of his children to be _queers_. And when he was finished with that – as if it wasn't enough; Quatre was practically near tears – he gave him the well-documented speech about _The Expectations of a Winner Heir _that Quatre had heard so many times he knew it by heart.

I thought my life was bad but Quatre's is terrible. They say money can't buy happiness, and they're right. From the first time I met Quatre, every single thing he's done never seems to be enough for his father. Nothing was ever good enough. So Quatre has just stopped trying for his father. And you know how I know? I was there the night he decided to tell his father. I was there for moral-support. It was the first time I'd been to his house and I could tell from the moment I met him that Quatre's father didn't like me. His face twisted into an expression of pure disgust as he shook my hand. And after he had finished with his son, I was left behind to pick up the pieces and try to rearrange them into a semblance of the great boy Quatre was before his father decided to cut him down with his self_-_righteousbigotry.

So I set off walking home with Meiran – she lives about a block away from me – thinking about how much trouble I'm going to be in when I get home because I stayed out so late. It's really unfair! Relena came and went as she pleased; her parents didn't have to worry because she had a mobile phone. I had a mobile once – I'd saved enough from my job – but one morning I found it down the toilet. I'm still not sure if it was Relena or her father, Richard. Meiran's voice snapped me out of my musings.

"So, what do you think of the two new kids?" I narrowed my eyes. Meiran did not ask questions for no apparent reason. I wondered what she was getting at.

"They're okay. Heero is a bit quiet but I think Wufei makes up for that. Why do you ask?" She ignored my last question and pressed on.

"Do you think they're fit?" And then I knew what she was getting at.

"Of course! They're bloody gorgeous! Although I prefer Heero."

"Hey, Wufei's pretty cute as well."

"Hey I never said that he wasn't. So are you gonna go for it? You know, ask him out."

"Hey! I've only known him a day. I'll get to know him a bit better and then if I still like him _then_ I'll ask him out. How about you? Are you going to ask Heero out?" She had a really fierce gleam in her eye when she said that, like she had a plan. I decided to pray for help against Meiran because I never come out unharmed after one of Meiran schemes.

"Well it's a bit more complicated for me. I don't know if he's gay. If I ask him out and he isn't he might freak out or something. And I barely know him."

"But he didn't freak out today at lunch when Her Royal Pinkness announced your business to the whole cafeteria."

"But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's gay. I could just mean that he doesn't mind hanging around with gay people."

"And I think that you're just trying to find reasons why it won't work, Duo Maxwell." And with that said she stalked off by herself. I ran after.

"Look, maybe you're right. But I find it hard to believe that a gorgeous, decent, obviously rich person like him would want to go with a ragamuffin like me."

"I think that you listen to Relena too much! You forget that you're a gorgeous," I scoffed at this but Meiran ignored me and carried on "decent person and you don't need to be rich to go out with someone who is. Heero does not look like the kind of guy that would only hang out with rich people. Remember what happened today at lunch?" I had nothing to say to this because she was right, so I kept my mouth shut. We carried on walking in silence. I was thinking about what she had said to me and I'd decided I would go for it _after _I knew him a bit better. We turned into Meiran's road. She turned around and faced me.

"Think about what I said, Duo. Bye I'll see you tomorrow!" And before I could reply she ran off towards her front door. So I turned around and went home.

xXx

"Where the hell have you been! I thought I told you to be home by the time the sunsets. It's pitch black outside!" was what I came home to. And to think I thought he didn't care.

"I'm surprised you even care. Yes you did tell me, but you're not my father so you can't tell me what to do."

"Duo! Don't speak to your father like that!" I swear my mum never listens.

"He's not my father, my dad is dead." I said slowly like I was talking to a small child, then I stormed up the stairs. We must have had that conversation so many times and yet they still don't understand. I will never EVER think of Richard as my father, the same way Relena will never be my sister.

I went into my room, even though you can hardly call it that. When you come through the door a small single door wardrobe is right by the door. It used to be white but I painted it black. Yep, they weren't very happy with that but there was nothing they could do to rectify it. Right next to the side of the wardrobe – practically attached – is my single bed with its black and silver bedclothes, and at the foot of my bed was the wall that had my only window. Next to the foot of the bed is a little table where I put my CD player, CDs and my hair stuff e.g. bushes and combs. We then come to my other wall, that has been painted a deep, blood red. I mean, it's more like a cleaning cupboard and it probably was before we came to live here. But that didn't matter I still managed to fix it up to my liking.

I slammed the door shut, flicked on my CD player and started blasting out 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana.

_Load up on guns and bring your friends  
__It's fun to lose and to pretend  
__She's over bored and self-assured  
__Oh no, I know a dirty word  
__  
Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello! _

_With the lights out, it's less dangerous  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__I feel stupid and contagious  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__A mulatto  
__An albino  
__A mosquito  
__My libido  
__Yay! Yay! Yay! _

_I'm worse at what I do best  
__And for this gift I feel blessed  
__Our little group has always been  
__And always will until the end _

_Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello! _

_With the lights out, it's less dangerous  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__I feel stupid and contagious  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__A mulatto  
__An albino  
__A mosquito  
__My Libido  
__Yay! Yay! Yay! _

_And I forget just why I taste  
__Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile  
__I found it hard, it was hard to find  
__Oh well, whatever, never mind _

_Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello, how low?  
__Hello, hello, hello! _

_With the lights out, it's less dangerous  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__I feel stupid and contagious  
__Here we are now, entertain us  
__A mulatto  
__An albino  
__A mosquito  
__My libido  
__A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial! A denial!_

xXx

Did ya like? Sorry about the lack of updating I tried to make the chapter longer to make up for it.I don't think this song makes any sense to the story but I just like this song so I decided to put it in there. So…tell me if you like! I'll be anxiously awaiting you reviews!Until next time minna!


	6. It's a damn cold night

Enjoy!

xXx

Meiran was true to her word. She spent the rest of that week getting to know Wufei better. It was at the beginning of the next week, after school, she went up to him to ask him out. I was at the sidelines, silently cheering her on. But he'd beaten her to it and Wufei asked her out instead, and now he glares at any boy who so much as looks at Meiran. It's really funny, but I'm not sure if she has noticed yet.

Throughout the whole of that first week, Heero and his brother decided that they were going to hang with the four of us. Sure they talked to other people but they reallyjust stayed with us mostly. We became a close-knit group. Of course Relena tried to get Wufei and Heero to hate us by telling them all of my secrets but nothing seemed to disgust or faze them. Heero was only really was surprised when he found I was gay.

We played basketball after school everyday, except when I had to leave early on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays because of my job. I never managed to win against Heero. And the most infuriating thing was that he always won by only a few points! I swear he did it on purpose, just to annoy me.

Relena was still trying to 'win' Heero. She was convinced that she was in love with him and that he secretly liked her. She always seemed to pop up wherever we were. Heero took to hiding from her. But on Friday before P.E started, she just walked into the boys changing room. Heero hid from her obviously but when she couldn't find him she started searching the _whole_ changing room while calling out his name. Someone had to go and get the coach to get her out of there. I think this is the first time that Heero had to hide from someone, especially from a girl.

I told you I had a job before. When we had first moved in with Richard, I knew I was going to hate him. First of all because he's not my dad and never will be. For someone so rich he sure was stingy, apart from when it came to Her Bitchiness becausewhen it came to me, I got nothing. My mother refused to give me money as well.

And secondly, when I first met him I got the distinct impression that he was looking down on me. He was always sneering at me, taking every chance to speak down to me. And he refused to shake my hand. So you can see why I hate him so much.

When I found out he was rich, I made a promise to myself that I would never even _touch_ his money, so I wouldn't dishonour my _real_ father. And that was when I decided to get a job. The job's great; I work at a music store so I get some sort of discount on the CDs. They pay great as well so I have enough for the things I need. I don't buy anything for luxury – if I have money left at the end of the month, I save it for next month. And I think I'm doing quite well.

I believe I lost my mother when my father died; she just got worse and worse. Then she got married to Richard and I hit rock bottom. I would say 'we' but she doesn't believe that she hit rock bottom – she thinks our lives got better and that I should be grateful. Now my mother (if I can call her that) has just drifted further and further away, until she just another stranger to me in the house. I think she betrayed my dad because it was quite soon after she died that she got remarried. Almost as if she was waiting for him to die so she could marry Richard. She doesn't understand why I'm so angry now but when I try to explain she never listens.

xXx

I came home from work on the Friday evening. My friends and I were going to go out that night for a pizza or something. So I came in and changed into my black combats, my blood red t-shirt and my long black coat. I glanced out of the window and saw clouds hanging ominously overhead. I just hoped that the rain held until I had arrived at Quatre's.I never did get around to buyingan umbrella.I was just putting on my black boots when Richard came up to me.

"Where do you think you're going at this time of night?"

"Out" was my cold reply. As if it was any of his business.

"You are not going out at this time of night with those _street rats_." He spat those words like it was some sort of poison. And I don't know what he meant by 'this time of night' because it was only 8 o'clock.

"First of all, Quatre Winner is actually richer than you so _technically _he's not a street rat." His face went red when I said this. It'd always seemed to irk him that Quatre's family was richer than his. "Secondly, it's 8 o'clock in the evening so it's not that late. And lastly, those street rats are the closest thing I have to a family, since this one is so twisted." I was standing up by this time. My arms were crossed over my chest and I was working hard not to lose my temper.

"I told you were to be home when the sunsets, and I'm sticking to that!"

"Tell me _Richard, _where's Relena? She's out with her friends, I believe. How come you're not yelling at her, telling her that it's too late to be out? I mean she's _only_ a small, defenceless, little girl and she's _only_ with hergirlfriends." Something flashed in Richard's eyes but before I could decipher it, it was gone and his glare was back with a vengeance.

"Relena is with respectable people and I know I can trust her not to get into trouble where she's going. You are not going to be. You're not even respectable yourself! And i know that I'll probably have to come and get you from the police station tonight." My left eye twitched.

"Oh, you and I both know that that's not the reason. You," I pointed at him, "and that woman over there who claims to be my mother," I then pointed to her. "are so fucking biased in Relena's favour and hate _me_ so fucking much that I'm surprised you even gave me a room in this house! I'm surprised you haven't kicked me out yet because according to you, I'm not respectable. I'm _nothing_ like Relena so why would you want to keep a failure. Why didn't you just give me away when I was born? You could have saved me all this grief. Oh! I know why! Because dad made sure I stayed. Because dad was the only one who loved me and now that he's gone, you don't have to bother with me any more!" Tears were prickling in my eyes from all the pent up hate, and rage and painthat was coming off me in palpable waves, but I refused to shed them because my dad told me that boys don't cry.

"Duo Kennedy Maxwell! What have I told you about speaking to your father like that!" She came storming into the hallway absolutely livid,tendrils of hair escaping her bun making her look crazed, pointinglike I'd just committed all seven deadly sins. I swear she never listens.

"And I've told you, **_he's not my fucking father!_**" And with that said I turned on my heel and stormed out of the house. When I reached the pavement I broke into a run. An angry voice drifted to me on the wind.

"Duo Maxwell! You get your butt back here right this instant!" but I just ignored it.

I kept on running until my lungs were burning for air and my legs were aching and yet I kept on running. And then, like in the movies, it started to rain. My onlythought was,_Great, it would start justwhen I leave the house._It came down in torrents, like the heavens were crying for me, because I was unable to. I arrived at the park that we played basketball in and collapsed onto a bench, scrambling to get air into my tortured lungs. I was drenched down to the bones but still I sat there. I sat there for what felt like ages; it could have been hours, it could have been mere minutes. I didn't know. I just sat there staring into nothingness, feeling the rain running down me like it was trying to wash away the dirty emotions flowing through me. All the hate and the anger that had been building up over the years finally found an outlet. One crystalline tear escaped from my closed lids. And it was like the dam had been broken. Tears after tears ran down my face, mingling with rain to wash it all away. I thought I could stop the pain if I willed it all away, but it looked like I was wrong. Again.

And when the last drops of hate left my body leaving an empty shell, void of all emotions, my head just dropped to the bench like a stone where I just lay there, shivering uncontrollably.

Then suddenly, I heard voices, and the silhouette of one lone person came into view. The person came closer to reveal himself as Heero. I think he shouted something but I didn't know. I was so numb and all my senses were dulled. But he must have because others came into my view. And as they got closer I saw that they were the rest of my friends. They started talking, at least I think they were because their lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. I was still shivering uncontrollably until someone wrapped their arms around me as they led me to a car.

I don't remember much from that night, all I can remember is being led to the car by two people; one on each side. We slid into the back of the car. I was still snuggled between two people. I buried my head into someone's chest, sinking into the blissful dark abyss, falling into a restless sleep. My last coherent thought before letting the darkness in was,

I don't want to go back. Please don't take me back. Please…

xXx

I must have mumbled that out loud because when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't in my little closet of a room. I was in someone else's who was very well off. I sat up quickly to get a good look around the room, but that was a mistake because the room immediately started to spin and there was a pounding in my skull that went on relentlessly. I collapsed back onto the bed; my eyes shut tight willing the nauseous feeling to go away. Once it had subsided I sat up again, slowly. I was right because that room was massive! I was lying on a four-poster bed that was a dark, mahogany colour with deep, red, silk sheet engulfing me. The whole room was done in terracotta colours: the wall was burgundy and the three-seater sofa and a single sofa chair were the only furniture in the room apart from the bed. The rest of the furniture was aubergine. There was a fireplace in the room with a blazing fire in its hearth, the incandescent reds and oranges making shadows dance on the wall. I was so busy looking around that I never heard the door open or the person walk into the room, until I heard his voice.

"So you're finally awake." His only answer was a sneeze that shook my whole body then a series of coughs that made my lungs ache and my throat burn. When my little fit had ceased, I found out how bad off I was There was a deep, painful throb throughout my whole body. I felt empty and numb from the great emotional discharge, and my head moaned and groaned with every movement I made. I turned to the voice and was surprised to see Heero there.

"Hey Heero," I croaked out. Heero seemed to understand my silent requestbecause a glass of water appeared from nowhere and he handed it to me. I gulped it down gratefully before handing the glass back. With my throat soothed I proceeded to speak. "What happened to me? I feel like shit." Then I groaned when my head throbbed a little harder.

"Hn. You tell me. We were waiting for you to meet up with us, but you never showed. Quatre phoned your house to find out what had happened and we got some rude woman telling us that you'd run out of the house and that she didn't care where you were." Yep that was my 'mother'. I'd recognise that description anywhere. "So we started out looking for you. When we found you, you were just sitting in the rain doing nothing and you passed out in the car on the ride back. We took you here because you said you didn't want to go home. Trowa and Meiran would have had to deal with their parents and Quatre said his dad doesn't like you, so I volunteered our house." Oh the wonders we have worked on Heero. He now speaks real answers instead of his monosyllabic grunt and speaks up when we're together instead of only replying to questions. Of course when around strangers e.g. Relena he reverts back to his old self but then, I wouldn't change that.

"Hey, but what about your parents? Didn't they mind?"

"They're dead."

Oh.

I decided to leave that topic and move to something a little more…friendly.

"I've gotta go home now, Heero. Where are my clothes?" I pulled back the covers to get out of bed despite how I was feeling but Heero strode over there, put his hand on my chest, making me painfully aware of how clothes-less I was, and pushed me back down to the mattress. I looked up at him in confusion.

"No. You're not going anywhere. Your clothes are in the bin because they were damaged beyond repair. You just said you feel like shit and you haven't even eaten anything yet. So you are going to stay in bed while I bring you breakfast. You are going to take the medicine that I will provide for you and I will lend you some clothes." And then he just glared at me as if he was just daring me to argue with him. I sighed. I knew I wasn't going to win that.

"Okay Heero." He was almost out of the room when something occurred to me. "Heero, Where's Wufei?"

"On a date with Meiran,"

"And Quatre?"

"Doing some work for his father."

"Trowa?"

"He said he had to help out at home. They would have all been here today but I told them I would look after you."

"Okay. Thank you." He just nodded and left the room. I yawned which seemed to tell the rest of my body how tired I was, so I sank back into the covers gratefully and drifted off to sleep.

xXx

Wow! looks at what she has just written What is with me and angst? I don't usually write it. This fic is **supposed **to be humorous! Well, looks like I failed that genre.

I hoped you liked it.

Hey I've just had a crazy idea! Why don't you **review** and tell me what you think? What did I tell ya, crazy man…

Until next time minna! Ja


	7. Memory, turn your face to the moolight

What? Two chapters in two days? I'm spoiling you people…

xXx

I woke up to the sweet aroma of freshly cooked food. I struggled to full awareness then sat up and leaned against the headrest. I looked around to find out where the heavenly scent was coming from and my eyes settled on a tray on the bedside table. On it there was: a plate of eggs, bacon and toast with a glass of orange juice next to it. Also there were two small white tablets - I guessed they were ibuprofen - and a bottle of purple coloured liquid that must have been the 'flu medicine with a spoon to take it with. My stomach grumbled reminding me that I was supposed to eat the food rather than stare at it, so I picked up the tray and got stuck in. It was sooooo good! After I'd finished the food, I took the tablets with the orange juice and took two teaspoons of the medicine, which wasn't all that bad 'cause it was grape flavoured. The ibuprofen worked almost immediately because my headache ceased within minutes and my body stopped throbbing. When I put the tray back on the bedside table, Heero seemed to appear out of nowhere to take it back to the kitchen.

"There's a bathroom through that door," Huh, I didn't see that door before, "and there are some clothes on the sofa. Towels are in the bathroom." Then he turned around and exited the room leaving me to get ready.

The bathroom was…Wow…that's the only was I can describe it. The walls were pale blue marble with black tiling going around the bottom and around the middle. The toilet, bath – which was about as big as my room – and the shower were all black and silver and there was a fluffy, blue carpet on the floor that was warmed by the hot water piping underneath the floor. I know that this was just a plain bathroom compared to what most people can have but to me it was amazing. Back at the house – I won't disgrace myself by calling it home – all I had to use to wash in the morning was a room that even smaller than my bedroom, with nothing in there but a shower stall that hardly ever had hot water. It was always cold in there though I don't see why. They're more than rich enough to afford central heating throughout the whole house but in my room and where I was _allowed_ to wash, it was perpetually cold. Hmm, I wonder why? Please make a note of the sarcasm used it the last sentence.

I decided to have a bath so I could relax my muscles and not end up having them seize up after the medicine wears off. I turned onthe taps, making sure that it was very warm, climbed out of my boxers and slide into heaven. As soon as I was fully immersed in the water I let out a moan of contentment. It really and truly was heaven. I stayed in there for ages. I took my hair out of my braid and just let it float out behind me. I spent ages in that bath and I would have spent longer but I was starting to go all pruney and the water was turning decidedly cold. So I heaved myself out of the bath, pulled the plug and watched the water disappear in a whirlpool down the plughole. I snapped out of my vivid fascination because I realised that normal people don't usually become riveted by draining the bath. I took a nice, big, fluffy, blue towel off the rack and a smaller one for my hair. I walked out of the bathroom with the steam escaping after me and sat down on the bed, relishing in the softness of the towel while I dried my hair. Once I'd deemed my hair dry enough to not leave wet patches on the clothes, I put that wet towel on the bed a walked over to the sofa where I then proceeded to check out what clothes Heero had left for me. Black silk boxers – I never figured Heero for a silk-lover – black, baggy jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and a black hoodie with 'I'm a schizophrenic, and so am I' emblazoned on the front. I put those on and found my DM's under the bed. Since I had no brush or comb I couldn't do my hair. So I went to the door and called for Heero praying that he could hear me. I must have waited five minutes sitting on the bed for Heero, but when he finally arrived he just stood there and stared at me. It was really weird. He was just standing there with some indecipherable expression on his face. Heh, guess he hasn't seen with my hair out.

"Heero," That seemed to snap him out of whatever reverie he was in.

"What is it, Duo?"

"I need a brush or a comb to do my hair." He left the room without a sound and returned with a brush in his hand.

"Thanks. Who's is this?"

"Wufei's," Why am I not surprised? Wufei loves his hair almost as much as I do.

I took the brush from him and began the stressful task of combing out my hair. My hair, you see is quite long. It comes down to about my knees because I have never cut it. It annoys my 'mother' so much. She says it makes me look like a girl and no one would go out with me and marry me if I looked like that. Then she found out I was gay, and said 'No wonder why you kept it so long, it's a queer hairstyle'. I stopped speaking to her for a while after that. I don't mind that people sometimes mistake me for a girl because when we first moved I went through a rebellious stage where I kept on doing things that weren't exactly _legal_. So when I got caught by the police they couldn't believe that a _nice_, _innocent girl_ could commit all those crimes. And who was I to correct them? There were times when I wasn't mistaken for a girl but I didn't get upset by those times. If anything I was enjoying it. Richard and Teresa's – my mother in name and nothing else – faceswhen they had to come and get at the police station were priceless. Alas, I had to stop when Richard threatened to kick me if I kept on getting into trouble. My manager, a man called Howard and a good friend of mine, didn't really mind about the charges so he couldn't threaten my job but – as much as it would please me to leave – I had nowhere to stay if I was kicked out.

After I had put my hair in its well renowned braid, I stood up feeling much better than when I had first gotten up and grinned at Heero.

"Hey Heero, what's the time?"

"1:32pm." Duh. Did he really think I'd be in the land of the living at 1:32_am_?

"Great. I'm ready to go home. Thank you _so_ much for looking after me. You're a real friend." I swear he blushed when I said that but it could have been just a trick of the light.

"You're welcome, Duo. Come on, let's go. I'll give you a ride to your house." Well all I can say is that Heero certainly know how to ride in style. He had a nice, sleek, fiery red Harley. Man I'd wanted a motorbike for ages but I didn't have enough money. Quatre offered to buy one for me but I said no. I didn't want to feel like I'm leeching off my friends. If it was possible, my grin got wider. I knew I was going to enjoy riding on that. Heero got on and put his helmet on before hurling one in my direction. I got on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. This was the other part of the ride I knew I was going to like.

"Ready when you are!" He revved the bike and took of down the road towards my house. Going down the road at that speed, my eyes closed, it felt like I was flying. I felt like I was 9 again, rushing down the road at the back of my dad's bike, laughing at a joke he'd told me. I smiled. Not one of my manic grins, but one of my small smiles of contentment. Usually they appeared when I remembered the good times I had with my dad. The ride ended all too soon for my liking. Heero slowed to a stop and I climbed off the bike reluctantly. I was about to say goodbye when he got off the motorcycle himself and chained it up.

"What are you doing?"

"Baka, your friends told me about your family. You're still sick so I'm going to stay with you today to help you get better. The medicine is going to wear off soon and you're going to go back to feeling like shit." Well when he put it so eloquently, who am I to refuse such generosity? After he said that he walked pass me up the steps to the front door.

"Hey waitaminute! What does 'baka' mean? Hey Heero, you can't make fun of me in another language!" All I got for an answer was his sexy smirk and a deep sensual laugh.

xXx

We made it up to my room without incident but I wasn't surprised. I would have been surprised if they came looking for me worried that I had been missing for a day. As soon as I got to my room Heero made sure that I went straight to bed. I told him I'd wash the clothes for him before I returned them but he said I could keep them. He's so nice isn't he? So I got into bed and Heero sat on the floor.

"Heero, you don't have to sit on the floor. You can sit on my bed if you want." So he got off the floor and sat at the end of my bed near the window. I smiled at him. I could feel the ibuprofen wearing off because my headache was returning, and it bought friends. The 'flu medicine had stopped its magic so my head was getting stuffed up, my throat felt grated and I was suddenly glad I took that nice warm bath this morning so my muscles didn't hurt as much as they did before.

"Hey Heero, could you get me some tissues for my nose please. There's a box in the toilet. It's down the hall and on the left." He nodded and left.

"Thank you." I croaked out. I pulled the duvet up to my chin and settled under covers. I was just hovering between consciousness and the Land of the Oblivion, when I heard an ear-piercing squeal. My eyes shot open. I'd completely forgotten. Relena! I flew out of bed, donned my jeans and ran to the door just to see Heero swiftly returning to my room with Relena attached to his arm, speaking a mile-a-minute about how Heero was here to see her. Well that pissed me off.

"Relena!" She looked up finally noticing that I was there, "He's not here to see _you_! He's here to look after me!" She scoffed at this.

"Why on earth would he be here to look after a queer like you? You'd probably start hitting on him or something! It's obvious that he's here to see me, isn't that right Heero?" I rolled my eyes at this. Even a blind person could see Heero frantically looking for a way to escape.

"Heero, tell her why you're here."

"Yes Heero tell us."

"I'm here," he gritted out, yanking his arm out of her grasp, "because Duo is sick. I'm looking after him." he said, reverting back to his quiet, short answering self. Relena stood there stricken while Heero made a quick getaway in to my room. I looked at Relena one last time to gloat and saw her expression go from being stricken to one of pure rage. She sent me a withering look before storming downstairs. I returned to my room and shut the door then I got back into bed.

"Heero? Are you all right? I know how traumatising that must have been for you." I said with a smirk on my lips. He glared at me before smirking himself.

"No. My ears are still ringing from that onslaught."

"You should listen to her try to sing."

Silence.

Then I burst out laughing before groaning when my throat protested.

"Go to sleep Duo. I'll be here when you wake up. Would you like me to stay the night?"

"Aww Heero. I didn't know you cared." I joked before saying seriously "Yeah thanks Heero. Do you wanna phone Wufei to tell him where you are?" Heero nodded then took out his mobile and made a call. First, all I heard through the phone was a LOT of shouting. I guess Heero interrupted their date. But when he explained what he was doing, that all stopped. He hung up.

"Wufei says 'hi'." I mumbled something while snuggling down further under the covers before falling asleep.

I slowly rose to consciousness but decided to not make it known. My room was dark so night must have fallen. The only light in my room was moonlight filtering through the leaves of the tree residing outside my window. I got up to see what Heero was doing and found him asleep, resting against the wall. I stopped breathing; I swear I did when I saw him bathed in the moonlight. His features glowing like some celestial being. Heh, now I'm going all poetic but he looked that gorgeous, resting there with all his guards down. He looked like he was finally at peace – no more demons to fight. I think it was at that moment that I fell in love with Heero Yuy.

xXx

You like? Wow this is one of the longest chapters I've ever written. I hope you liked it. I would like to say thank you to all my reviewers.

**Camilian**: Hehehe! Sorry I can't tell you what's gonna happen. You'll just have to read the next chapters to find out!

**Hikaru**: Thanks so much! And I'm so glad you like my angst coz there's gonna be plenty more!

**Seamonkey: **Sorry about your day and I'm glad I was able to help. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I made it extra long just for you!

**Wanted! **A beta reader

Oh I took this freak test the other day. Turns out I'm not the only one that laughs at the really sad moments in movies. My psychiatrist told me it was a natural part of growing up…right before he called the people in white coats to take me away!

Until next time minna! Ja


	8. Truth hurts

I decided to go to school on Monday even though I was far from being better. Staying at home trying to look after yourself because your 'family' either didn't know or didn't care that you were sick wasn't exactly easy. My friends did come and visit me later in the day on Sunday but they couldn't stay long before Richard threatened to call the cops to kick them out. I'm not joking, that's what he said he'd to do.

I arrived at school just as the bell was going. I would have arrived earlier but on the way to school (I had to walk because Quatre didn't know I was going to go to school on Monday and I had no way to contact him) I felt dizzy and I had to sit down for about 10 minutes until the wave of dizziness and nauseous-ness passed. I entered home room seconds after the teacher did and took my usual seat next to Heero.

"Baka. What do you think you are doing in school?" Huh! Good morning to you too Heero! Oh I'm fine thank you, how about you?

"You try to look after yourself when you're sick!" I hissed back. You can tell how much he cares.

"Oh Duo I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were coming to school today. I'm really sorry." Aww, poor Quatre. I can always count on him for sympathy. Give him enough time and he could probably find a way to blame himself for the eruption of Versuvius!

"Don't worry 'bout it Cat. It isn't your fault." Then I remembered something. I felt the grin creeping over my face. I was sure Heero moved a few inches away from me. I turned to Wufei and Meiran.

"So," I began a sly smirk on my lips, 'How was your date, hmm? What was Heero interrupting when called? Nothing _important _I hope." Bingo! Wufei had a nice blush going there and Meiran was looking anywhere but at me.

"It's just, Wufei seemed _awfully _angry. From what I heard through the ph–"

"Duo Maxwell!" My head whipped 'round. I think that I hit Heero in the eye with my braid.

"Yes miss?"

"Don't act innocent with me!" I grinned at that, "I've been calling you for at least 5 minutes now! Stop talking to Mr. Chang and Ms. Long and FACE THE FRONT!" I thought she was gong to burst a blood vessel. She was so red in the face and was breathing heavily. I decided to 'behave' for the rest of home room but I had a permanent grin fixed on my face until the end.

We were walking down the corridor to our second period. I was in front so I was walking backwards so I could talk to them. I was still teasing Wufei and Meiran about their date when someone shouted for me to watch out. I turned around to see what to watch out for and collided with someone. I stumbled backwards a bit but the other fell to the floor with an _Ooof! _I looked down to apologise but when I saw who it was the words choked and died in my throat. It was my _darling_ sibling…

Relena.

"Watch where you are going, street trash." she hissed at me. I rolled my eyes, _Here__ we go again_, I was thinking.

"What the hell are you talking about? You walked into me! And **_stop calling me street trash! _**I've never actually lived on the streets." Amazing. Less than 5 minutes talking to her and I was already pissed.

"Watch your mouth!" she snapped, dusting off her clothes and straightening her skirt. "It's not proper to use such foul language in front of a lady."

"What lady? I don't see one." I muttered but she didn't hear me and carried on.

"And you would be street trash if my father hadn't taken pity on you." She stopped a second, and then a positively wicked smile appeared on her face. "Come to think of it, everyone you meet seems to pity you. My father does, your friends do, your manager does and yes, even your father did.'

"You have no right to talk about my father about my father, so leave him out of this." My eyes had narrowed as I racked my brains, trying to find out where she was going with this.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it Duo? Your father pitied you so he acted like he loved you. But when even he couldn't take having such a failure for a son, he killed himself to get away from you." The world came to a screeching halt around me. I clenched my fists, if anything to stop myself from punching her and my vision bled red. The tense atmosphere around us froze as Relena's laughter rang out into the silence. I took a deep breath to calm myself down so she couldn't see that she was getting to me. I became completely calm almost to the point of feeling detached. I'd locked all my emotions up in a hastily assembled box so I was no longer feeling the red hot anger of before. I was feeling a cold fury that was simmering behind my wall of calm detachment. I smiled; a cold manic one that had nothing to do with being happy and wasn't quite sane. I think Relena noticed some thing was wrong because she stopped laughing and I saw fear creep into her eyes.

"Relena, my dearest Relena. You know, I think I've finally gotten it. You know, I think you are jealous of me." I saw her open her mouth to retort but I shook my head and it snapped shut again. "I mean _I _have real friends not just some mindless sheep that don't have enough brain cells to think independently; I am best friends with someone who you want to be your boyfriend. And he doesn't even like you. An–"

"Now wait a second. You are wrong there." She seemed to gain confidence once again, "Of course Heero likes me! Isn't that right Heero?" I was pretty peeved that she had interrupted me – actually, I was _very _angry that she had interrupted me so I just glared at her.

"Heero,"

"Hn?"

"Tell me do you like Relena? Come on, tell the truth!" Heero just raised one eyebrow before answering.

"No." Relena gasped. I _think _she may have finally gotten it that Heero doesn't like her.

"See Relena-dearest. He doesn't like you." My cold smile was back again full-force, "and that's what you can't stand; the fact that I have something that you don't." By then I was stalking towards her. She kept on taking one step back as I took one step forward to keep our distance.

"Oh and Relena-darling?" I growled, "Don't you **_dare _**talk about my dad ever again!" And with that I lashed out. The box had crumbled under the full force of all my emotions and they ran rampant through my mind. Relena had given up trying to get away discreetly, and turned around completely to start running. But she stumbled in her heels and that was all I needed. I leapt at her and tackled her to the ground. I didn't care about what my dad had said about never hitting a girl; Relena had it coming to her. My wall had crumbled and my cold fury poured forth. She kept on struggling but to no avail. I pulled back my fist ready to punch her with it, but before I could bring it forwards it was stopped by a hand around my wrist. Two more hands wrapped themselves around my other arm and together they grabbed me off Relena. They then proceeded to drag me down the hall, presumably to the principle's office. But I wouldn't go without a fight.

"Put me down! Are you listening to me? I told you to put me down! Don't you fucking touch me! **Get you mother fucking hands off of me!**"

"You heard him! Put him down!" Wufei snarled. My friends were standing in the pathway of the teachers that had me in their grasps.

"Move out of the way kids!"

"We are not moving until you take your hands off of him. So I'll tell you again: Take Your Fucking Hands Off Him. NOW!" Wow. I'd never seen Heero that angry before. He was standing there at the front, glaring for all he was worth and looking ready to actually attack the teachers that weren't listening. They tried to step pass him but they couldn't dodge past him. In the end they got so pissed off that they dropped me unceremoniously to the ground and stormed off. I picked myself up of the floor and walked to the principle's office myself, with my friends walking behind me.

"Well Mr. Maxwell. I thought that you wouldn't be paying me any more visits. Why are you in my office this time?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" At that moment I was beyond annoyed and was into the zone of being royally pissed off.

"Many students and two teachers said that you attacked Miss Peacecraft and was about to hit her when you were pulled off of her."

"Yeah well the things she said were enough to provoke anyone to hit someone, even a girl."

"I don't see what such an innocent girl like Relena could've said to make you attack her so viciously. The poor girl was scared out of her wits." I rolled my eyes at what she was saying. 'Innocent', my ass!

"First of all I only tackled her to the floor; I didn't even get the chance to hit her. Damn teachers pulled me of before I got the chance. And second of all, if you were to ask my friends they would tell what really happened and not some fabricated lie that only Relena-worshipers can spout." She gasped at that but I went on regardless and told her what really happened.

"Well she couldn't've possibly meant all of that and she probably would've apologised if you gave her the chance instead of attacking her like a man possessed." Unbelievable, right? Don't worry I'm used to it whenever it comes to Relena.

"Oh. My. God! Is that all you are going to say? She said horrible things to me about my _dead_ _father_, and all you're gonna say is 'well she didn't mean all of that' and you expect me to take that! I mean she started all of this and yet _I'm _the only one that seems to be getting punished!" Yeah remember I said I was used to it? It doesn't mean I have to like it. At that moment in time I was up out of my seat and pacing again. All my previously forgotten anger was returning.

"Aren't you going to at least give her a detention?" I demanded. Heh, I think I scared her.

"Why of course not! Miss Peacecraft was the victim in all of this." I froze mid-step. I think she sensed to change in me because she seemed to be watching me a bit warily.

"Victim? _Victim_? It's that conniving little bitch's fault in the first place!"

"Mr. Maxwell please watch your mouth and calm down, please." She told me. You don't know how annoying it is to be told every second to watch you mouth.

"How can I calm down when _she's_ going to get away with it without even a measly detention? And _stop telling me to watch my mouth!_" I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins making me feel light-headed and I was pacing viciously around the room. I must have _really _pissed the headmistress off because…

"MR. MAXWELL. I told you to watch your mouth!" Something audibly snapped and I think it was the fragile thread of sanity I had left. I abruptly turned on my heel and stormed out of the office. I yanked the door open and slammed shut so hard behind me that it ricocheted of the doorframe. My friends were waiting in the secretary's office for me. I believe they heard every single word of my conversation with Principle Kelly. I stalked right pass them where I proceeded to yank that door open as well.

"Duo! Where are you going?" Quatre cried out. At least there are some people that care about me.

"Out." was my indifferent reply. I think they understood me because I carried on through the door without any more questions. But when I got to the kerb (1), reality hit me. Where the hell was I going to go? I had no work until later that day and couldn't exactly go back to the house. I sat down on the kerb. I was completely stuck! Suddenly I felt an arm go around my shoulders. I looked to see who it was and saw Quatre kneeling next to me and all of my friends: Heero, Trowa, Wufei and Meiran. Trowa smiled down at me.

"So Duo, where do you want to go now?"

"What are you guys doing out here? Go back inside, I don't want you lot to get in trouble as well!" I hissed at them.

"Don't be silly Duo. Who says that you get to have all the fun?"

Really I have the greatest friends, don'tcha think?

And that was how we all ended at Heero and Wufei's house. We were all sitting in the bedroom room with _Muse _blasting out through their Hi-fi system. Trowa and Quatre were sitting on the bed kissing for all they were worth. Wufei and Meiran were play on their PS2 and Heero was on the soft, plush carpet using a laptop – most probably his. I was lying next to Heero slowly getting lulled to sleep by the sound of his typing……

They woke me up when it was lunchtime and we ordered pizza. I think I ate a whole large pizza by myself. I was so hungry!

We left around the end of school to avoid getting to any more trouble than they already were in – well everyone else did apart from me. I wasn't quite ready to face the music, so to speak. So I stayed in the living room with them – Wufei and Heero – and we just talked, you know got to know each other better.

It turns out that their parents were killed in a space shuttle crash when they were quite young. They ended up being moved from relative to relative until they went to go and live with their aunt and uncle. Now their parents were quite rich since their father was an ambassador of L1 and their mother was a civil servant so they left a substantial to them both in their Will. They lived with their aunt until they were 17 when they moved to the Earth to get as far away as possible from the money-grabbing witch and gained their inheritance. That was only a few months ago.

I told them of my dad and how he died of cancer when I was young. I told them of how my mum had changed and how Richard and Relena hated me and made my life a living hell. I told them of how I had to get a job to survive and the days when I used to get in trouble with the law on a frequent basis, just to annoy Teresa and Richard. They didn't pity me or patronise me. They somehow managed to sympathise without making me feel bad.

It was around 6 pm when I deemed myself ready enough to go back to the house. I'd used their phone to phone Howard and tell him that I wouldn't be in that day then I bid my friends farewell and was about to walk out the door when Heero offered to give me lift home. Unfortunately I was too worked up to enjoy the motorcycle ride and soon enough were pulling up outside that familiar door. I climbed off the bike, gave Heero back the spare helmet, waved goodbye as he drove off into the night, sighed to myself and then trudged my way up the steps. I let myself in and tried so very hard to creep in unnoticed but all was to no avail, because from behind the study door, came a deep voice.

"Duo Maxwell, I would like to have word with you."

xXx

(1) Okay, I've been getting a lot of reviews telling me that this isn't the right of spelling of this word as in the-side-of-the-road kerb BUT that is the English spelling of it **_and I am British damnit_**!

Phew! Glad to get that of my chest.

Made it extra long for all of you!

**Hikaru: **Glad to know that I'm not the only insane one out there!

**Camillian: **Thanks for your review! I wasn't sure if I was doing Heero's personality right, so thanks.

**Mariana1: **There ya go! I nice, fat, juicy update for ya!

**Seamonkey: **Thank you for your compliment because I usually get B's in English!

**RikoRishodeathangeloflight: **Well, ask and you shall receive! And lookie you asked, and now you have received!

**elephant-chimes: **Anou, I hope it's not too late to save your sanity! And I updated just like you told me to.


	9. All by myself, I'm gonna be all by mysel...

'Duo. Duo, Duo, Duo. I have just received a call from the school informing me of your absence from school for most of the day. They say that you didn't even make it to your first period.'

'Yeah. I know.'

'Care to enlighten me as to **why** you were not present at school today.' Bloody hell. This man suffers from longwinded-ism! He just has to use three words when one would suffice.

'I walked out of school because I got pissed off with the headmistress.'

'Watch your mouth boy!' he snapped. My left eye twitched. I had developed quite a hate for that phrase. 'What could Principle Kelly have done to _annoy _you enough to leave the school premises?' It really is a chronic disease.

'_Well_, even after all Relena did to me, all she said to me, the principle decided that Relena was the **_victim _**and didn't deserve to be punished! And I got it all instead! Wouldn't you be just a **_little _**bit pissed off with her if you were being punished for something you didn't do?' I was really fired up and was out of my seat pacing around the study. You could feel the anger in the air; my braid was practically crackling with the tension it was producing.

'Boy! I told you to watch your mou–'

'I swear – I SWEAR! If you tell me to watch my mouth One More Time, there will be Hell to pay. Come on! I dare you to say it! Say it! SAY IT!' I swear it's all a conspiracy to make me go insane. And lookie, it was starting to work. That newly-repaired thread of sanity slowly fraying.

'Calm down! Don't you dare tell me what to do!' He was out of his seat now. He was all red in the face and breathing harshly through his nose, and if glares could kill I'd be six feet under by now. 'Mrs Kelly told me that you attacked my little girl. Now I don't see why you shouldn't be punished for attacking someone – a girl no less!'

I took a few deep breaths before speaking, just to calm down. I wasn't usually that temperamental, that whole family just had the knack of getting under my skin so easily. They're the only ones to master that skill.

'It did not hit the bitch – I didn't get the chance.' He opened his mouth to comment about my language but I just raised an eyebrow and he snapped it shut again. Hey, I was getting pretty good at shutting people up without speaking!

'And besides, my 'attack' was a provoked one. She was saying some uncalled for thing about my dad. She had no right – **_no bloody right!_** to speak about my dad let alone say offensive things.'

He just waved it off like it was some pesky fly. 'No matter what she said, that does not give you the prerogative to attack my only daughter so viciously. She was very much shaken when she came home from school today.'

'Ooh, did _daddy's little girl _tell daddy what the _big bad Duo _did to her today?'

'Yes! As a matter of fact she did. She told me how you made the absurd accusation that _she _was jealous of _you_; how you conned the boy that she loves into saying that he doesn't like her. She even told me how you've been filling this boy's head with all sorts of lies about my little princess.' I swear this man has an obsession with pet names.

'Oh pur-leese! Give me a break! She doesn't _love _him. She barely knows him!'

'And that's because you won't let her get near him. Now Duo, just because you are jealous of their love for one another, there is no need to try and prevent them from getting together.'

'Don't give me that shit! Has she been filling your head with her childish fantasies and delusions too? My _friend _Heero wants nothing to do with her. He doesn't like her. I mean, really! Would _you_ fall in love with someone that stalks you, glomps you every time they see you and won't leave you the Hell alone?!'

He gasped at that. I think that that was his first real dose of reality. His face had gone as red as my wall! He deliberately took a deep breath then sat back down.

'Well, this brings me to my next point. I believe this boy would make a very nice partner for my little angel –'  My right eye twitched this time, 'But since she never got the chance to get to know him and since you're _such good friends _with him–'  

I did **not **like where this was going. There was this foreboding feeling creeping into my veins. I should've listened to my instincts.  

'I want _you _to help get them together.' Woah. Rewind. I must be hearing things.

'YOU WANT ME TO DO **_WHAT!!!_** Are you insane? Why on earth would I help to put _my best friend _together with that witch?!'

'Do **not **speak of my daughter in such a way! As to the reason _why_ you would help…well, you don't really have much of a choice.'

You know that foreboding feeling creeping along my veins? It was full out stomping through them and settling in my stomach.

'Oh really? I think I do and my choice is **_no! _**I refuse to assist in the hurting my friend.'

'Oh but I think you might change your mind if you knew what was at stake.' He was smirking at me maliciously and there was a twinkle in his eyes that showed how much he was enjoying the fact that he knew something I didn't.

Something very important.

'Stakes?'

'Yes stakes. If you refuse to help my darling daughter get that boy, Heero, then you can kiss your home goodbye!'

'What?!' For someone who's pretty quick on the uptake, I was having a hard time digesting what he meant.

'Don't you get it, you stupid boy? If you don't help Heero and Relena get together then I am going to be forced to kick you out of this household.' Woah. I got it then. I began to get a little hysterical.

'Forced?! FORCED?! Who's forcing you? Nobody's forcing you to kick me out of the house!'

Make that a lot hysterical. I mean, I always wanted to move out of that God-forsaken house and get a place of my own – it's been my dream ever since Teresa got remarried. But I can't move out _now_, I don't have enough money to support myself. Hell I can't even buy a place to live! So you can see why I was getting upset.

'I can't have a person that cares so very little for this family in this house. I can't have such a selfish boy in this house. So if you refuse to help, you give me no choice but to kick you out.'

'Selfish? How the Hell am I selfish?'

'I gave you a home, a place to live. And how do you repay me? By being a rude, uncouth delinquent that shows no respect!'

'You are **_supposed_** to give me a place to live! When Teresa married you –'

'**_That is your mother you are speaking of in such a disrespectful way – _**'

'**SHE IS NOT MY MOTHER**! Not anymore. The day she married **_you_** was the day she gave up that right. So I'll speak of her in any way I fucking feel like!

When Teresa married you I became your step-son. So you were supposed to give me a home, a place to live. But as rich as you are, all you gave me was a closet for a room and a small dilapidated _washroom_ for a bathroom. I receive no money from my so-called mother and Relena gets more pocket money each day than I make in a week. In fact I had to get myself a full-time job to afford anything I needed that wasn't food from the weekly shopping!'

'You are supposed to be working at you age!'

'Not full-time. And Relena isn't! She's never done a hard days work in her life! Everything is just handed to her! She could get away with murder if she just batted her eyelashes at you and called you 'daddy'!'

'So I take it your answer is 'no' then?'

'Damn straight it is!'

'Then I'd advise you to pack your bags. I want you out of my sight by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.' And with that he brushed pass me and slammed out of the study leaving me to ponder what I was going to do next.

I was in deeeeeeep shit.

--------------------------------------------------------

Weeeeeeell Lookie here! Is that _another_ chapter I see? Why, I believe I'm spoiling you!

And it was thanks to these reviewers that I decided to write another chappie!

**RikoRishodeathangeloflight: **Well your bad feeling was not misguided, was it? And here's your update!!

**MC-88****: **Sorry! I wanted Duo to punch Relena but my fingers wouldn't let me write that!

**Hikaru****: **Sorry but you're gonna have to go through a lot more Duo torture before we get to Relena's just dessert! As to how they can be blind to Relena's wrong doings? Her father donates a big fat some of money to the school.  

**Camillian****: **I hopemade up for the cliffie in the previous chapter 

**Dragen Eyes: **Sorry about the spelling blushes but I hope this chapter made up for it! Ooh some 1x2 action. Well you're in for a wait.

**Raven Star: **Yay! Another _Muse _lover! And I am glad you love this story, so here's some more for you!****


	10. Runaway

I got precisely no sleep that night. My mind was constantly ticking over the different options of where I was gonna live since I had been kicked out the house. I knew I wasn't gonna get any help from my mum (and I use the term 'mum' loosely) so that left me with 3 options: a) find a hotel to stay in b) live on the streets or c) betray one of my best friends, and help Relena get with Heero. As you can see there isn't much of a choice. I _refuse _to do that to Heero so that one is out of the question; I wouldn't last _5 minutes _living on the streets and I don't have that kind of money to stay more than a few night in a hotel. And that was another thing! There was the money issue because even though I had quite a bit of money saved up, it wasn't nearly enough to buy/rent an apartment, and though I may have enough if I carry on saving from my job, what am I gonna do in the meantime? Yeah, it just sucks being me. By the time I figured that staying up all night trying to work out what to do next wasn't beneficial to me, it was already 5am and there was no point in trying to get to sleep since I'd be up in about an hour or so. __

I dragged my un-cooperating body out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I took a shower and decided to wash my hair because that might've been the last time I'd be able to wash my hair for a long time. I got dressed in my favourite outfit: a tight red tank top and my black combats that were practically made out of silver zips and pockets. They hung low on my hips so a bit of my stomach could be seen. Combined with my long black leather coat and my black Doc Martins, I knew I looked good.

I pulled down my black duffle bag from on top of my wardrobe and put all my neatly-folded clothes in it. I only had 1 more pair of shoes so it all fit in nicely. I crammed my CD player in my bag and put my toiletries in the side-pockets. I stuffed my wallet with my cash-point card, ID and all the money I presently had on me, into one of the various pocket on my combats. I put my portable CD player in my school bag along with my books. I then slung my school bag over one shoulder, slung my duffel over the other took one last glance over my room with a mixture of relief, relief that I was finally leaving and despair over the fact that I had nowhere to go. I made my way into the kitchen. This was where I stuffed myself full of food: eggs, bacon and toast all washed down with a tall glass of orange juice. I then made myself a few sandwiches to pack in my bag and stole a few bags of crisps. I took 'some' money from the 'secret' stash 'hidden' in the kitchen. Ha! That's a joke. I think everyone and their dog know where the money is in the kitchen. I took most of it just to piss them off as my goodbye to them.

I decided to set off for school early, before Quatre arrived to take me to school. It gave me time to think over what I was gonna do next and this way I could tell everybody at the same time instead of having to repeat my story to all of my friends. Aww hell, who was I kidding? I did it to avoid my friends for as long as possible before having to tell them my pathetic story.

I grabbed my stuff and set out to the bus stop. I thought about leaving my key since that I wouldn't need it but if I had forgotten something then I would need the key because they probably wouldn't let me back into the house.

I suppose the one good thing that happened that morning was that the bus came as soon as I made it to the stop and it was pretty empty. The bus driver saw my duffle and probably thought 'runaway from home' because he didn't charge me. I arrived at my school in no time – no traffic – to find that the front gate was locked. But, no matter, that didn't stop me. I knew how to get in another way. I had to break into the school once because the teacher confiscated something off of me that I _REALLY_ didn't want her to see, so I broke in along with Trowa and WuFei to take it from her drawer. So I know for a fact that the storage room door at the back of the school is never locked. The door was broken last year when a car hit it (I _really_ didn't see that door!) and they never bothered to fix it since all they kept in there was chairs and the like and the door that leads into the school has a pin code so it will only open if you know the code. I happened to know the code from when I had to clean it out. So I entered the school that way.

I hid – ahem! – _stayed_ in the library since nobody ever goes there except for when projects are due. I happened to know this because when I asked Meiran if she would meet me in the library for our history project she said 'Where?!'

I sat at the very back so on the off chance that someone _did_ enter the place, they wouldn't see me. I sat on one of the chairs at the table, put my duffle under the chair between my legs and put my bag fully on my back. I laid my head on my arms on the table to worry about what was gonna happen to me. But no matter what I came up with, it always came back to the issue of money and my lack of it. I was watching my braid as I was thinking, hypnotic in the way it went backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards…

I must have fallen asleep 'cause when I woke up it was about 8:30 and I could hear the hustle and bustle of the student body as they moved about. I went to my homeroom for the start of school after putting my duffle in my locker. I sat at the very back so that my friends wouldn't notice that I was there. Yeah I was still avoiding them, so sue me.

They didn't see me until first period when Trowa and Meiran tried to get my attention to talk to me, but I steadfastly ignored them. Heero got so pissed and started to glare at me in English because I wouldn't talk to him. Why am I avoiding them, you may ask. Well the longer I don't have to speak to them, the longer I can hold out in telling them of my pitiful situation.

None of my friends were in my third period class so I was safe. But as I was putting my books in my locker before lunchtime – I was planning on skipping – they cornered me.

"Duo, why were you ignoring me in English? Did I do something to offend you?" Heero looked adorably confused. Just as I opened my mouth to answer, Trowa cut in.

"Really, because Meiran and I thought we were the only ones. He wouldn't even look at us in Trig first period." They all sounded so upset. Well, I thought to myself, it's now or never.

"Look, it isn't that you did something wrong, it's just I didn't feel like talking to you guys this morning."

"Why wouldn't you want to talk to your friends?"

"I'm not trying to make you feel like I'm angry or upset with you at the moment or that I don't wanna be friends anymore it's just – look can we please go someplace private to talk? I really don't want the whole school and their uncle to know my business." They all nodded but they all looked worried and apprehensive.

"How about the cafeteria, you can talk to us while we eat." I shook my head

"Nuh-uh, I need a place a lot more private than the cafeteria. Come on, let's go to the library."

"Duo, you keep on mentioning this supposed library but where the hell is it?!" Despite feeling totally and utterly depressed I cracked a smile at Meiran and closed my locker before setting off for the library.

I led them through the towering bookshelves to the tables at the back, the exact place I was sitting 5 hours ago. Everyone sat down and made themselves comfortable.

"Okay Duo, we're secluded and we have the privacy you desire now could you _please_ tell us what the fuck is going on?!" Well when they put it that way…I took a deep breath and licked my suddenly dry lips.

"Well, when I got from Heero's last night Richard called me into his study. I figured that the school had called him and told him about my 'attack' on Relena and my skipping of lessons. So we got into a MASSIVE argument about how I shouldn't be hitting a girl even she said degrading things about my dead father. Anyway, it somehow got onto the subject of Relena loving you, Heero and how I 'conned the boy that she loves into saying that he doesn't like her' and how I've 'been filling this boy's head with all sorts of lies'. Oh and get this he said, 'just because you are jealous of their love for one another, there is no need to try and prevent them from getting together.' That was when he made me the most ridiculous offer ever – well it wasn't really much of an offer, more like an ultimatum. He said that I should help Heero and Relena get together –"

"**_WHAT!!!!!!_**"

"Masaka…"

"…The hell?"

"Are you serious?"

"You must be kidding me!" They all said this at the same time and Heero looked positively sick.

"That's exactly what I thought so I asked him why I would do something like that, and he said that I had no choice. Either I helped them get together or he would kick me out of the house." There was a collective gasp when I said that and Heero looked murderous.

"So what did you do, Duo?"

"I – I told him that I wouldn't do it." My voice got gradually quieter to the end of that sentence. There, it was finally out in the open.

"No Duo, go and tell him that you will do it. I won't let you lose your home on the account of me." Heero's usually quiet voice seemed to fill the uncomfortable silence.

"I can't Heero, I would – no _could _never do that to you. And besides, I've always wanted to move out of that wretched house. It's just happening just a little bit faster than I would like to."

"So what are you gonna do, Duo?"

"There's nothing I _can_ do. I have enough money to stay in a hotel but it won't last me long even with my job. I don't have enough money for an apartment so essentially, right now I'm out on the streets. I guess Relena was right, I am street trash – at least now."

"Oh stop being ridiculous, Duo you are NOT going to live on the streets!"

"Yeah? And where exactly am I gonna stay? Certainly not at your house Meiran, your mum is already struggling to look after you and your baby bro. She can't afford to look after another person."

"I wasn't suggesting _me_! What about Quatre, huh? His house is big enough to house the whole street!"

"I think you overlooked one _tiny_ little fact. HIS FATHER HATES MY GUTS!!!"

"Calm down, both of you! You're not helping the situation any. I'm so sorry Duo, but there is no room in my house for anyone to stay in. and now that my sister's sick…"

"It's okay Tro, but thank you for your help and support anyway."

"He can stay with us."

"Of _course_! You house is ginormous and only the two of you live there!"

"Why didn't _I_ think of that?"

"Are you two absolutely sure that I can live with you? 'Cause I'd hate to impose and I can be pretty annoying. Especially in the mornings when I –"

"Duo. Stop. You're babbling. We wouldn't have offered if we didn't want you staying with us and besides, you're one of our best-friends and we'd gladly help you out." I launched myself at him; I think that there were tears in my eyes when I hugged Heero. I felt him stiffen in surprise but then he relaxed and brought his arms around me.

"Thank you so much! I don't know how I'm gonna repay you!" I extricated myself from the hug to then tackled WuFei to the ground.

"Hah! You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you? God, you don't know how much this means to me."

"Will you need to get your stuff after school?" WuFei asked after getting up and dusting himself off. He was trying to scowl at me but the huge smile he had on his face ruined it. I grinned back at him.

"Nah, I brought all my stuff to school this morning 'cause Richard said that I had to be gone by the time he woke up this morning. All my stuff is in my locker in my black duffle – I don't have a lot of things. I can go straight to your house after school.

Hey Heero how did you and WuFei get to school this morning because if you took you motorbikes then I don't think that it will all fit."

"Don't worry; I took the car this morning. Heero came on his bike for some unknown reason. He said it was something to do with being able to get away from school quickly." WuFei looked bemused.

"Baka, think about it. If I'm on my bike then I can't be followed home by, say, a girl who's _obsessed_ with me." WuFei's face paled at the prospect of having Relena visit their home.

"Mmm, smart move Heero." Trowa smiled. Just then there was this odd sort of growling sound. I suddenly realised that it was my stomach. I smiled sheepishly.

"Now that's over and sorted, let's have some lunch!" They all just laughed as we left the library.

I so glad that day was over when the final bell went. It turned out that Richard had told Relena that I had left home, so all day she was making derisive comments about me now being 'street trash' and a 'street rat', and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her. I just couldn't be bothered to retort when she said something to me. Of course when Heero snubbed her later that day she nearly blew a blood vessel – that was pretty funny. I was laughing my ass off. I guess she got a little pissed at that but then again, who cares?

I got my duffle from my locker and lugged it all the way the student parking lot. They were all waiting by WuFei's car. I swung my duffle onto the back seat. I gave Quatre, Trowa and Meiran a hug, telling them I'd see them tomorrow. Sheesh! The way they were acting you'd have thought I was going off to war! I told Heero I'd see him at the house and he took off on that gorgeous motorcycle that I am going to have one day. WuFei wouldn't let me drive so I slid into the passenger seat next to him. I sat there and pouted at him hoping it would change his mind but he just laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot. I turned the radio on and _Linkin__Park_floated out of the speakers. As I was listening to the lyrics of the chorus I kinda figured that they applied to me in a way.

_I wanna run away_

_And never say goodbye_

_I wanna know the truth_

_Instead of wondering why_

_I wanna know the answers_

_No more lies_

_I wanna shut the doors_

_And open up my mind_

A thought suddenly crossed my mind and I turned to WuFei. I think he must have seen my evil smile from the corner of his eye because he looked positively terrified.

"So…WuFei, my good friend. I was just wondering, how far have you got with Meiran, hmm?" WuFei choked on his own saliva "You two sounded _awfully_ busy when Heero called you on Saturday. And you were positively _angry_ that he interrupted your date. So what exactly were you _doing_ with Meiran? Something interesting, I believe." WuFei had a cute little blush staining his cheeks.

"Ahem…we're here Duo. Time to get out." Then he yanked the keys out of the ignition, flung the door open, jumped out of the car, slammed the door shut and ran to the front door like the devil was after him, which in fact, I was. I got out of the car at a more sedated pace, took my thing from the back seat. I locked and shut both doors then made my way to the front door; only to find that he'd shut the door on me! I rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds before Heero opened the door and let me in.

"Duo, what the _hell_ did you do to my brother?" Heero looked like he was struggling not to burst out laughing.

"Oh don't worry, I didn't do anything mentally or physically scarring. He'll be fine after a few minutes of calming down." I grinned at him. Heero shook his head then he turned around and went up the stairs.

"Follow me." I put the duffle strap over my shoulder and followed him upstairs.

"Right here is your room. Clean bed sheets are at the top of your wardrobe and all the towels are in the bathroom." Funnily enough it was the same room I stayed in when I first stayed at their house. I turned around and wrapped my arms around Heero in a hug. He didn't freeze up that time and returned the hug almost immediately. I guess he was getting used to having hugs. I loved being able to hug Heero, it was my way of being close to him without him knowing about my feelings for him. Pathetic I know, but I'd take what I could get.

"Thanks again, Heero" I whispered against his neck, then pulled away wondering if I had hugged him for too long for it to be a mere hug from a friend.

"No problem Duo. I'm glad I am able to help." He left my new room after that and shut the door behind him leaving me feeling a whole lot more alone in that large room.

There. I am so sorry for the HUGE amount of time it took me to update. But my new computer didn't have Microsoft Word on it so I had to wait for my mum to get the CD so I could install it.

I won't do individual review responses this time because I am so tired, but I'd like to thank each and every one of you who took the time to review my story. Each of those reviews brought a smile to my face.

I'll try and update as soon as possible but I haven't even written the next chapter yet. I've been making it up as I go along!


	11. Don't let him get me!

I woke on Wednesday morning after one of the best night's sleep of my life. The only other time I've slept like that was when my dad was still alive. I turned on the radio option on my CD player as I got out of bed, but it wasn't turned up loud 'cause WuFei and Heero could have still been sleeping. Marilyn Manson's song _Tainted Love_ was on so I sung and danced my way to the bathroom. I stripped off my clothes and hopped into the shower. That was probably the best shower of my life. I didn't really have showers when my dad was alive and at Richard's house my shower only had cold water so that was probably the first shower I'd had with hot water. It may seem like a small thing, but to me it was paradise. I had to step out of paradise far too soon for my liking because I didn't want to use all of their hot water. I wrapped myself in a huge fluffy towel. I didn't need one for my hair 'cause I made sure it didn't get wet. When I went back into my room (you don't know how cool it was to be able to say that that was _my_ room!) Evanescence's _My Immortal _was playing so I hummed along to that while I dried myself off and got dressed. I put on another pair of combats made from a mass of zips and pockets, except these ones were a dark purple, and I put on my long, black Nirvana t-shirt.

I took the sandwiches I made yesterday and put them in the bin and left the crisps for a midnight-snack supply. After, I left the room to make my way down to the kitchen for breakfast. Along the hallway towards the stairs, there were plenty of doors. The door practically opposite my room was wide open so I had a little peek inside. It was a bedroom but unlike my room this one had doors leading to a balcony and had a TV with and video and DVD player. There were Doc Martins at the foot of the bed and I recognised them as Heero's so, using my amazingly quick mind, I deduced that it was Heero's room. Score one for me.

The door next-door to me was ajar so me being curious had a little peek inside. Turned out it was WuFei's room and he was still asleep inside. Oh and he looked so _cute _while he was sleeping. A truly evil grin split across my face as I got another idea. I ran from the door then leapt into the air shouting 'BANZAI!!' as I landed on WuFei. I then proceeded to grab him by the shoulders and shake him awake while I was shouting in his ear:

"WUFEI, WAKE UP! THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED AND HAVE TAKEN ALL OF YOUR UNDERWEAR!!" He suddenly sat up and shouted,

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY SWORD? I'LL KILL THEM ALL! THAT'LL TEACH THEM TO STEAL MY BOXERS!" I collapsed laughing on top of him as he slowly returned to the land of the living. When he realised that it was me, he pushed me to the side but I didn't really care because I was laughing so much. In fact, I was laughing so much that I fell on the floor. But I found that even funnier so I laughed harder until tears were streaming down my face. WuFei looked down at me with an expression of pure murder.

"Maxwell!!" He looked so pissed. I knew what I was about to do next was practically suicide, but it just came out and I was powerless to stop it.

"Hey WuFei, I didn't know that you were a boxer-man. I always figured that you'd wear briefs to keep in place that stick you have up your a –"

"MAXWELL! I'LL CUT THAT BLOODY BRAID OF YOURS OFF AND USE IT TO STRANGLE YOU!!" I didn't get to finish my sentence because a) WuFei interrupted with his muderous shout and b) he flung the covers back and leapt out of bed at me. Because I happened to like my braid attached to my head and I didn't want to die of asphyxiation, I dived to the side and WuFei landed on his face. I then scrambled to my feet while I was laughing at WuFei's landing and ran/stumbled out of his room, through the hallway, down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I came face to face with Heero.

"What was all that noise about?"

"Oh nothing. I guess WuFei didn't like my wake-up call. You didn't tell me he was grumpy in the mornings." He just shrugged. Suddenly WuFei burst into the kitchen and promptly set his sights on me.

"I'm gonna kill you Duo." I let out a 'meep!' and hid behind Heero.

"Move out of the way little brother or I'll be forced to hurt you too." And to my utter surprise he did. WuFei then started towards me. Since I wanted to live now that I had a new home to live in, I ran around the table and back out of the kitchen into the living room while shouting,

"HEERO, YOU TRAITOR!!!" All I got in reply was a laugh. And then something tackled me from behind and I was falling…falling…Ooofff! I hit the ground. Hard. WuFei flipped me onto my back and I couldn't get away because he was straddling my thighs, and then he started to tickle me. And he seemed to know everywhere that I was ticklish! I was squirming, trying to get away from those evil fingers. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe and my stomach hurt and I was crying, yet he still carried on. Then I saw Heero in my peripheral vision, he was just standing there with that sexy smirk on his face and his arms crossed not doing a bloody thing! I tried to glare at him but the effect was ruined by the tears in my eyes and my laughter.

"Say 'uncle'! Say it, damn it! Say 'uncle' or I will never let you go!"

"Alright, alright. Uncle! Uncle! Now gerroff me, you're not exactly light yanno." He got off me and dusted himself off. Heero extended a hand to help me up but I ignored it. When I'd finally gotten up, I glared at him. He put his hands up and gave me that wide-eyed innocent look but that little smirk on his face completely ruined whatever image of 'innocent' he had.

"Are you trying to say that I am fat, Duo?" His tone was dangerous so I knew answering would be like walking through a mine field

"No, no, not fat. It's just that stick up your ass that adds the extra weight." I mumbled that last sentence under my breath. I really didn't fancy being tickled to death again

xXx

We got to school surprisingly early. I guess they're usually the first ones there out of our group. They took the motorcycles that morning. I rode on the back of Heero's because even though I was annoyed with him, WuFei still looked like he wanted to kill me and besides, it was Heero. I'd be glad to wrap my arms around him anytime. We went to the cafeteria because that was where everybody went before school had started. We sat down at our usual table. Well I sat as far away from them as possible because I still was annoyed with them. And the identical smirks they had on their faces wasn't helping the matter any. I gave them both glares and their smirks got even wider so when I got up to myself a hot chocolate from the machine, I knew I was pouting.

When I had gotten my cup of hot chocolate, I turned around and made my way back to our table but I froze mid-step. Sitting at our table and in _my_ seat was Miss Queenie herself. In the other three seats was her loyal band of followers. WuFei looked up and gave me a look that bordered on pure distaste I could practically here him saying, 'Get these women away from me, now!' I gave him a grin in return that wasn't all that cheerful and strode up to the table. I slammed my cup down making the hot liquid slosh all over the sides of the cup.

"Relena _darhling_, to what do we owe the pleasure?" I said sarcastically, but I guess the sarcasm just flew right over her head.

"Oh I wasn't here to see you! I was here talking to Heero." _Quelle surprise_.

"Uh-huh, that's nice _dear_. Now can you be so kind as too **_get the fuck out of my seat_**?!" She gasped as if she's never heard a swear word before, even after living with all of that time.

"This is not _your_ seat; you have no claim on it. Oh and by the way I will advise you to stay away from Heero, since finally we're an item. And none of your meddling can come between us." I looked at Heero and raised an eyebrow; he just shrugged as an answer. I walked up behind Relena and she whipped her head round to glare at me.

"Maxwell, just what do you think that you are doing?" she snapped. I just ignored her – as usual – and grabbed hold of the chair. Then I pulled it away from the table and dumped her off of it. The other three girls rushed to her side immediately to help her and gave me dirty looks. I just grabbed the chair, flipped it around and sat down so that I was straddling the back. Heero was smirking and looking like he was struggling awfully hard to not laugh his ass off, but WuFei had no such restraint and was doing just that – laughing his ass off. I grinned at both of them.

"Maxwell!" she screeched at me WuFei and Heero both reflexively covered their ears but I didn't because I was used to it.

"What? What?! I didn't do anything!"

"You know very well that you did. How dare you touch me, you little street rat." She all but growled at me. It wasn't a growl because that's not very _lady-like_."

"For the last time Relena, I am not a street rat. I do not live on the streets."

"For someone who claims he doesn't lie, you've been telling an awful lot of lies today. We all know that daddy kicked you to the kerb and since you have no where to go, too poor to afford anything you ended up living on the streets." I think she was waiting for me to get angry because she looked disappointed when I grinned at her instead.

"Relena _darhling_, I have a little secret to tell you!" she tried to look uninterested but I could tell she was dying to know.

"Actually you dear father miscalculated. It seems that I do have somewhere to stay. It's nice having _real_ friends. You see I'm actually staying with…Heero! Ain't that just a kick in the teeth! I am living at _your_ 'boyfriend's' house and you don't even know where it is!" Oh yeah I was feelin' _good_!

"**_WHAT!!!!_** That's _not_ true, it can't be. Tell me the truth Heero; I know _you'd _never lie to me." Heero got that evil smirk on his face that something bad was gonna happen to someone and he would enjoy every minute of it.

"Oh yeah, he's living with us. I mean, his room is _right across_ from mine. Such a coincidence." He leant back against the chair and grinned. His eyes were twinkling and WuFei was holding his stomach laughing. Relena burst into big crocodile tears and ran from the cafeteria, her followers running after her and shouting for her to come back.

"You know that I'm still miffed with you two. You're lucky that I hate Relena or I would've left you two to fend for yourselves." Heero's eyes widened in mock horror.

"You wouldn't!"

"You better believe I would!" WuFei was still laughing but not as hysterically as before. I got up off my seat and walked around to their side of the table. I grabbed their t-shirt collars, one in each hand and dragged them off of their seats. Out of the cafeteria and towards our homeroom.

"Come on, move your lazy asses. We have places to go, people to see and all that jazz."

"Mr Maxwell! What have I told you about your mouth?!" I was in a mood where nothing could bring me down and I just felt like being silly.

"Um…to watch it? But sir I've tried to watch my mouth before but I couldn't do it without a mirror. Maybe you should ask one of my friends for me." I pondered. Then I grinned.

"Aww sir I didn't realise you cared so much about my mouth! But then again it's such a talented one, isn't it?" WuFei started laughing loudly all over again and Heero burst out laughing as well. All this happened with me still holding onto their collars. I winked at the teacher and walked past him while dragging WuFei and Heero along.

"Come along _dears_ we have to get to class. Ta-ta for now sir!" I was practically carrying them down the hall way since they had collapsed from laughing.

"Really! What am I gonna do with you two! I can't take you anywhere!"

xXx

I had a lot of fun writing this little chappie. I actually got the idea for the beginning from a reviewer who said that it was gonna be mad with Duo and WuFei living in a house together.

I was so surprised yesterday. I uploaded chapter 9 and next time I go to check my email there's a review there! Wow…

Thank you! Thank you! -bows-


	12. Because you loved me

I'd been living with Heero and WuFei for about a month and life couldn't have been better. No one dared to pick on me 'cause I was such good friends with Heero and WuFei, our school's resident martial artists. Relena had retreated to lick her wounds after she had found out that I was living with 'her boyfriend'. I was slowly earning enough money to be able to own a motorbike and in the meantime, Heero and WuFei let me use theirs when ever I wanted, I'd just have to tell them. I was working to get a scholarship to college – there'd be no way I would've been able to pay for it – so my grades were better than ever. Yep, life was good, except for one small detail. Heero. I still hadn't told him how I felt and I didn't think I ever would. If I had told him how I felt and he didn't feel the same way, not only would I have been facing rejection but our friendship would've gotten awkward. I would have been analysing everything I said/did to him to make sure that it wasn't too touchy-feely or over-stepping the bounds of friendship. We would never be able to go back to the carefree, relaxed friendship we had before. And I needed that friendship. Heero was my best-friend and if we couldn't be a couple then I would take every bit of friendship he threw my way.

One Friday evening, all of us – that is Quatre, Trowa, Meiran, Heero, WuFei and I, we we're watching a movie on the TV at our place. I left my place on the couch next to Heero and Quatre to go and get some more popcorn. The movie must have finished while I was in the kitchen because when I got back the news was on. I don't usually watch the news – I find it as boring as Relena – but one headline grabbed my attention:

"Scientists have made a new breakthrough! Scientists have just created a way to cure most forms of cancer. This, in turn will end up saving many lives and…" I stopped listening after that. I was too angry and upset and pissed off and close to tears to listen anymore.

"Change the channel."

"What?"

"I said 'change the channel'."

"What? Duo, what's wrong?"

"I said to change the FUCKING CHANNEL!"

"Duo calm down, what's –" I decided that if they weren't going to change the channel then I wouldn't stay in that room any longer. I turned on my heel and ran to the stairs, taking the steps in 2's and 3's ignoring the cries from my friends.

"Duo!"

"Duo wait!"

"Come back!" If I had looked behind me I would have seen one of my friends as he leapt over the sofa back and followed me upstairs. I ran into my room and threw myself onto my bed with my back to the door. I was crying so hard that I didn't hear the footsteps in my room. I didn't know someone was there until there was a hand on my shoulder. I flinched away from the touch and the hand removed itself.

"Duo what's wrong?" I knew who it was as soon as they had spoken.

"Why are you here, Heero?"

"When my best-friend who hardly ever cries, runs from the room in tears, it's my duty as best-friend to find out what's wrong."

"Duty, huh? Just leave me alone Heero and stop acting like you actually care."

"No Duo I didn't mean it like – never mind." And he left my room and shut the door behind him, plunging me into total darkness.

There was one song that always reminded me of my father. I came across it one day funnily enough, when Relena was playing it in her room. I don't usually listen to that type of music but that struck a chord deep inside me. So at times like those when I missed my dad so damn much I'd play it. So I took the CD out, put it in my CD player and pressed play as I got undressed down to my boxers and climbed into bed.

_-X-_

_For all the times you stood by me_

_For all the truth that you made me see_

_For all the joy you brought to my life_

_For all the wrong that you made right_

_For every dream you made come true_

_For all the love I found in you_

_I'll be forever thankful for you_

_You're the one who held me up_

_Never let me fall_

_You're the one who saw me through, t__hrough it all_

_-x-_

_You were my strength when I was weak_

_You were my voice when I couldn't speak_

_You were my eyes when I couldn't see_

_You saw the best there was in me_

_Lifted me up when I couldn't reach_

_You gave me faith 'cause you believed_

_I'm everything I am_

_Because you loved me_

_-x- _

_You gave me wings and made me fly_

_You touched my hand I could touch the sky_

_I lost my faith; you gave it back to me_

_You said no star was out of reach_

_You stood by me and I stood tall_

_I had your love I had it all_

_I'm grateful for each day you gave me_

_Maybe I don't know that much_

_But I know this much is true_

_I was blessed because I was loved by you_

_-x-_

_You were always there for me_

_The tender wind that carried me_

_A light in the dark shining your love into my life_

_You've been my inspiration_

_Through the lies you were the truth_

_My world is a better place because of you_

_-x-_

_You were my strength when I was weak_

_You were my voice when I couldn't speak_

_You were my eyes when I couldn't see_

_You saw the best there was in me_

_Lifted me up when I couldn't reach_

_You gave me faith 'cause you believed_

_I'm everything I am_

_Because you loved me_

More tears came forth as the song neared it's end, so I buried my head in my pillow and cried in earnest.

_I'm everything I am_

_Because you loved me_

xXx

I got a fitful night of sleep that night because it was plagued with nightmares. Well actually there was only one that kept on playing over and over again, like some twisted movie.

_I was in the hospital, in the room where my dad was dying. I took his pale, frail hand in my small, child's one, as I watched him lie there. He looked so weak laying there. Nothing like the strong dad who used to pick me up and swing me onto his shoulders, or swing me around when I did well in school. He groaned and I peered at his face anxiously. He cracked his eyes lids open and his eyes roamed around the room before they landed on me. He gave a small, weak smile and I smiled back. His lifted his hand up towards my face but it was too strenuous for his deteriorating muscles, so I caught the hand and held it to my cheek._

_"Hey son," he croaked out, "I'm g-gonna have to go away for a w-while, but I don't want you to be sad." Ironic, because as soon as he said that, the tears that were welling up in my eyes finally spilled over onto my cheeks and trickled down. Dad used his thumb to wipe them away._

_"Now what have I told you, big boys don't cry." He smiled again as his eyes were drifting shut, "I love you…son." That heart monitor flat lined and emitted that high-pitched sound that everyone knew meant death. His hand completely relaxed in mine so I was holding it up completely. But I didn't believe in my young mind that my dad could be dead. My big, strong dad couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be. So I let go of the hand at my cheek and with one, small hand I shook his shoulder; the other one was still holding his hand._

_"Dad, wake up. Come on dad, wake up." I croaked out, but he didn't move. So I shook harder. "No dad don't go away, I need you dad. Please come back." I choked out as more and more tears came and my throat closed up. I just wouldn't believe it._

_"No dad, no I need you dad. I love you, please come back. I don't want you to go away._

_No dad, DAD!!!!!" I broke down sobbing on his chest and I clutched his hand tighter. I guess somebody must have heard my shout because all of a sudden nurses and doctors were swarming around the room. Then one nurse grabbed hold of me and tried to take me out of the room but I just shrugged her hand off. She then grabbed me with two hands and pulled me away from my dad, but I was still clutching his hand._

_"NO!" I screamed as they tried to undo my grasp, I tried to clutch tighter but they were stronger and they yanked my hand free the same time as the nurse pulled me away. "NO! I CAN'T LEAVE HIM! HE'S MY DAD, I NEED HIM! Please…please…no…" My voice was a whisper at the end as I slowly got further and further away from my dad._

Then it stops there and starts all over again.

Very slowly a voice began to penetrate the fog that was around my mind.

"Duo…wake…dream." I was slowly resurfacing from my nightmare and as I did I heard the words more clearly.

"Duo, wake up. You're having a bad dream." And there was a gentle shaking at my shoulder. I opened my eyes slowly and sat up, to come face to face with Heero.

"What are you doing here, Heero?"

"You were having a bad dream. I was trying to wake you up"

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I disturb your precious sleep?" So I was being spiteful, sue me. I was pissed at the whole world. If those fucking scientists had discovered that cure sooner then I wouldn't be father-less.

"Iie Duo. I wasn't even asleep. I heard you talking so I wondered what was going on. I came in to see you tossing and struggling while tears ran down your cheeks. I didn't like seeing you sad so I tried to wake you up."

"Why should you care Heero?"

"Damn it Duo! I care of course I care! If I didn't care then we wouldn't be best-friends! If I didn't care then I wouldn't _be_ here right now! If I didn't care then I wouldn't have offered to have you stay with us! If I didn't care Duo, then I wouldn't have looked after you when you were sick. If I didn't care then I would have let that bully beat you up. If I didn't care then I would have gone with Relena on that first day! God Duo, I care so much about you." He was pacing while he said that. He looked just like a caged animal.

"But why?! Why would _you_ care about a nobody like me? My own _mother_, for God's sake doesn't care about me! All of my friends left me when they found out I was gay! Christ! They were only friends with because I was Relena's step-brother! By all rights you should have left me too. All of you should. I have nothing to give any of you! Why would you like me and stay friends with me?

If my own mother couldn't love me then why should anyone else care about me?"

"I love you, Duo."

"What the hell are you talking about, Yuy?"

"I love you, Duo Maxwell. I am in love with _you_." My eyes widened and my heartbeat sped up. That little spark of hope that had been snuffed out began to glow again. But I wouldn't let it grow because it would just hurt too much when – _if_ it got crushed.

"Don't fuck with me, Heero. I don't know how much more of this playing-with-my-feelings crap I can take."

"I'm not lying. I really do love you."

"Why? Why would you love me?"

"God, I don't know. Some things just _are_. When I first saw you I wanted to be your friend so I could be close to you. When that boy threatened you I just wanted to hurt him and protect you. When you were sad I wanted to kill everyone who made it happen and make sure you were never sad again. When you were sick I just wanted to look after you and let no one else near you. When they kicked you out I was more than happy to take you in because it would give me chance to get to know you better. It would give me a chance to just be near you. If that isn't love then I don't know what is. It scares me sometimes that I feel so strongly for you and that if anything were to happen to you and take you away from me I would just drop everything and go after you." I was shocked that that was what Heero felt about me and I was stunned from the depth of his feelings. But when Heero cupped my cheek I leaned into immediately and closed my eyes, relishing in the comfort it gave me.

"It's not possible."

"What isn't?"

"The prince isn't supposed to love the pauper."

"I'm no prince and you're no pauper, Duo. Sometimes I think that you're the prince. You're so out of my league. And there are days when I can't believe that you are my friend."

"The person that you've always longed for isn't supposed to love you back."

"So you've always longed for me?" I flushed. It made me look like a love-sick schoolgirl.

"Yeah, how could I not? You're so gorgeous strong and just _perfect_. You're everything I'm not. And then unlike the other rich people in our school, you're so kind and caring and have a great sense of humour and you're just so _real _that I feel that you're just too good for me. I mean what have I got to offer you? You could do so much better than me. You don't deserve leftovers."

"How could I do better than you if you are all that I want? You are not leftovers, you are at the top of the ladder and I'm lucky to have found you. You're so full of life and you feel your emotions fully. But they don't make you weak, they make you strong. So much stronger than me ithat I gain strength just from being near you." And then he swooped down and kissed me.

It was the single sweetest moment of my life.

His lips were so soft and smooth. They quested gently across mine, almost shyly. His hand were resting on my waist and his thumbs were softly stroking my stomach, making that kiss so much more intimate. I reached up and threaded my fingers in his hair while my other hand fisted in his shirt to pull him closer to me, deepening the kiss. We broke apart simultaneously, breathing deeply. It probably wasn't the greatest kiss in the world and we didn't use any tongue, but it was the sole fact that it was _Heero _kissing me that made it so special.

He sat down next to me on the bed. Then he put his arm around my shoulders and began to stroke my arm, my hair and my cheek alternatively. It was surprisingly relaxing so I just leaned against him and shut my eyes.

"Duo love," A little shiver went through me when he said that. I was still having a hard time believing that he loved me.

"Mmm?"

"What made you so upset when you saw the TV?"

"They said that they had found a cure for cancer. My dad died of cancer. If they had just found that cure earlier then my dad would be alive. And I wouldn't be so alone."

"I'll make sure you'll never be alone again." he whispered in my ear with passion. The conviction in which he had said those words made me believe in him. Then Heero untangled himself from me and got up. Thinking he was about to leave the room, I grabbed onto his arm and tugged on it.

"Please, don't leave me." I knew I sounded pathetic but I couldn't have stood being alone after all that had transpired that night.

"Baka," he said affectionately as he took my hand slowly stroked it. I got such a delicious tingle from that. "I was getting underneath the covers." He then let go of my hand and climbed into the bed. He pulled the covers up to our chins and then got himself comfortable. Then his arms were wrapped around pulled me back against his chest and he tangled his legs with mine. I rested my hands over his. It's hard to describe the feeling that that action invoked in me. I no longer felt so alone and isolated from the rest of the world. I felt as if all that Heero had said to me was true. I felt stronger, like his strength was flowing into me. I felt…happy for the first time in ages. And when I fell asleep again, no nightmares plagued me, no feelings of loneliness swamped me, just the warm feeling that someone finally loved me.

xXx

I woke up the next morning to a strong and steady heart beat in my ear and a loving caress on my arm, my face, my hair and my torso. It had turned out that we had moved about during the night. Heero was lying on his back and I had my head on his chest and was laying half on him and half off. I smiled lazily and looked up at him, but he was still asleep. My smile fell because I had realised that he was only doing it in his sleep he didn't actually mean to do it. I carried on watching his face because he looked utterly ethereal while he was sleeping. Soon though, his breathing changed and his lids fluttered before opening and revealing two, blue abysses. He looked down at me and smiled, making his eyes glow supernaturally. And he carried on doing that loving caress. I smiled back at him.

"Good morning."

"Ohayo. Do you feel better than you did yesterday?" His arm tightened around my waist briefly.

"Yeah, all thanks to you. You know, when I woke up this morning I was scared that it was all a dream that you loved me. I knew that if it was, I wouldn't be able to be just best-friends with you. I'm so glad it wasn't."

"Me too koi, me too."

xXx

I bet you're all just squealing and saying 'about time too!' Well was it worth the wait?

The song was _Because you loved me_ by Celine Dion. I had just heard the song on the radio and I thought that it fit how Duo felt about his dad well.

I was crying as I was writing Duo's nightmare. I thought it was so sad, did anyone else think so?

I actually wrote this chapter before I wrote chapter 10 coz the idea I had might've disappeared. And my stupid computer kept on messing me around. Twice it exited out of Microsoft word and I almost hyperventilated when I thought I'd lost all of my work.

Oh and don't worry the story hasn't finished yet, they still have to tell Relena about their relationship!


	13. Caught in up your wishing well

"Hey Heero," You could practically hear the happiness in my voice, even from that one word. His arms were wrapped firmly around my waist and occasionally he would stroke my back in a way that made my spine shiver.

"Yeah,"

"What happened after I left yesterday?" I just hoped none of my friends were annoyed or offended because of what I had said and done.

"Well I ran after you as soon as you left the room so I'm not quite sure." It felt…good knowing that someone cared for you that much to go after you even though it was quite obvious that I wanted to be alone. "But when I got back they were really worried about you, and so was I. Quatre guessed why you ran out of the room but none of us were really sure."

"Oh so they weren't mad or annoyed at me?"

"Of course not, baka. They actually stayed the night to make sure you'd be okay." Wow. Oh yeah, it felt _really_ good knowing that _people_ cared about me that much. "Now do you want to go back to sleep, because it's still early."

"Yeah, but how do you know that it's early?"

"Because it's still dark out. Now go to sleep." So I snuggled down, my head still resting against his chest right over his heart. Right arm tucked between our bodies, by my shoulder and my left arm was flung over his waist. Our legs were tangled together and my braid was clutched in Heero's hand while he got comfortable on his back with both arms around my waist. It was pure bliss being in his embrace like I'd wished and hoped and dreamed for since I'd met him, and I fell asleep almost immediately.

xXx

When I woke up I sat up and stretched my arms, looking round to see where Heero was since he wasn't in bed. But as I looked round I saw that he was nowhere to be found, and that I wasn't in my room. The walls to the room were a light blue colour, not the terracotta colours I was used to. The sheets were black satin and the furniture was black and cream. Also the bed was facing the door and behind the bed were doors leading out to the balcony. Then it hit me: I was in Heero's room, but why? And how? Didn't I fall asleep in my own bed, wrapped in his embrace? That brought a smile to my face despite my confusion.

Suddenly the door slammed open and Heero stumbled in with my CD player tucked under one arm and my black Doc Martins dangling from his fingers. He set the CD player on the black table next to the TV/VCR/DVD combo and put my Doc Martins next to his at the foot of the bed. I smiled at him, bemused.

"Heero, what is going on? Why are you moving my things into your room? And how the hell did I end up in your bed?" Heero looked…I dunno…shy…? Worried…? After I asked those questions.

"I carried you in here while you were still sleeping and I moved you things into my room because I thought – well I figured that – well maybe–"

"C'mon Heero spit it out!"

"I thought that maybe you'd like to live with me in the same room. But if you don't then I'll move you stuff back…" and I suddenly realised that Heero – as gorgeous as he is – had never been in a relationship before and was as shy and unsure as I was. He seemed so sure, so confident when we were in my room but really that was because someone had to be the strong one in this new relationship, so the other could gain strength from that. And he took that roll on himself because he saw how depressed I'd felt.

I got out of bed quickly and made my way over to him. I enveloped him in a hug and his arms came up tentatively to rest on my hips. I pulled him closer and rested head on his shoulder, inhaling his earthly scent.

"Heero, I would _love_ to live in the same room as you, to wake up to your face every morning. To be able to fall asleep with your arms around me and know you'll be there in the morning. To never have to go to bed alone again." We just stood there holding onto each other tightly. I leant back slightly in his arms and smiled at him. He smiled back, a small one, but it was genuine and it lit up his whole face innocently. I couldn't resist and I kissed him softly on the lips, marvelling at being able to do it and pulled away.

"Do we need to get everything else from my old room?"

"No I've got everything. Do you want to have a shower first? I'll go and see if the others are awake." He left the room as I walked through the door near his dressing table. His bathroom was set in the same way as mine. All that was different was that the colouring was different. The whole room was done in cream and gold. I walked across the fluffy cream rug to the shower, undressing as I went. I grabbed my 2-in-1 shampoo-and-conditioner before I stepped under the powerful spray, relishing in the hot water as undid my braid. I made sure my hair was thoroughly soaked before applying a generous amount of my 2-in-1. I stepped out after washing out the sweet-smelling suds and grabbed I huge towel from the cupboard and wrapped it around my body. Then I took a smaller one and wrapped my hair up in it before stepping out of the steaming bathroom. I entered the room to find Heero sitting on the bed. He looked up as I came and his eyes went wide. It was then I was reminded that I was only in a towel and I felt my face heat up. I made my way over to the wardrobe with his eyes still on my, then he shook his head, got up and made his way into the bathroom.

"The others are up and are already downstairs." He called through the door

" 'Kay!" I grabbed what I wanted to wear – shorts and my Nirvana t-shirt – then walked back over to the bed, switching on the radio as I passed it. I got dressed while dancing to the music and afterwards, made my way downstairs.

xXx

"Morning Duo, are you feeling better?"

"Much, thank you. Sorry to worry you all but thanks for caring." I gave them a smile. Those guys (and one girl) have put up with a lot of shit from me and I owed them, big time.

"No prob."

"Hey so where did you all sleep. You didn't camp out on the couch did you?" I vaulted over the back of the sofa to land with a _thump!_ on the seat – and Trowa's legs.

"Ack! Get off my legs, you're not exactly light ya know." Quatre started to snicker in his seat on Trowa's lap and Trowa glared at him.

"You know Quatre, I hear the floor is very comfortable – would you like to find out?" _That _immediately silenced him and Trowa wore a satisfied smirk.

"Guys? Hello? I asked you a question, remember? So where did you all sleep?"

"Wufei showed us to a spare room…"

"…and I slept with Wufei in his room." finished Meiran. I smirked. Her eyes widened as the last word came out of her mouth. I knew she shouldn't have said that. _She_ knew she shouldn't have said that. Ah well _c'est la vie_!

"_Really_?! Well I'm happy for you, but you were very quiet! Is Wufei really that ba–"

**_SMACK!_**

**_THWACK!_**

"Oww! Jesus! What'd you hit me for? I didn't do anything!" Meiran raised her hand as if to hit me again so I scampered away and threw myself at Quatre and Trowa for protection.

"Save me!! I'm being abused!" Trowa looked down and arched an eyebrow while Quatre was struggling not to laugh at me outright, which he failed at abysmally.

"Duo you know what you did…" Quatre began,

"…and you know that you deserved what you got." Trowa continued. I gave them my best 'I'm a poor orphan' look but they must have become immune to it because they just shook their heads despondently at me.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you Duo." A voice said from the doorway. I twisted around to see Heero standing there, leaning against the doorjamb.

"Heero, my hero!" I said in an overly-dramatic voice. He then smirked and made his way over to me and pecked me on the lips before heading over to the kitchen, presumably to get breakfast. I turned back around to find 4 pairs of eyes staring at me.

"**_WHAT?!?!_**" Those unwavering stares were unnerving, and I started to fidget nervously.

"_Nothing_. I was just wondering when _that_–" she waved her hand between the kitchen where Heero was and me, "–had happened. You two certainly weren't together when to left last night." Meiran explained. They all looked at me expectantly – even Wufei! I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. I sighed, defeated,

"If you must know, it happened last night."

"What, you just couldn't contain your passion for one-another anymore so you confessed your undying love and screwed like bunnies?" asked Trowa. I scowled up at him.

"**_No_**! I had a nightmare last night and he came in to comfort me, and it all progressed from there."

"Ah, so _then_ you confessed you undying love for each other and screwed like bunnies." Trowa concluded.

"For Christ's sake we did not 'screw like bunnies'. We just fell asleep in the same bed." I could hear Quatre snickering loudly above me and Meiran outright laughing. I made a mental note to get my own back by putting dye in their shampoo.

"Wait, WHY didn't you guys screw? Quatre and I did when we got together."

"You're the one who's screwed – screwed in the head, you psychotic son-of-a-bitch." I yelled at him. Then to my absolute horror I heard chuckling coming from near the kitchen. I groaned.

"Somebody just shoot me now." I muttered. Heero let out a deep, sexy chuckle and sat on the sofa after moving my feet. He put my feet on his lap and handed me a sandwich.

"Eat." He commanded as he switched on the TV with the remote.

"Yes master. Any more orders, master?"

"Don't get smart with me. And when you've finished go upstairs and get dressed, we're going out."

"Cool."

"That's 'Cool, _master_' to you."

xXx

Don't shoot!!!! Cease fire!!!I'm really sorry for the huge delay and I hope that this makes up for it.

To all my reviewers: You guys are the wind beneath my wings! I love you all and all the yummy reviews that you send me. Keep 'em coming!

My updates have been erratic at best and poor at worst, but this year there will be looooooonnnng periods between each one because this year I'm am getting double the homework load. I will try and update during Christmas.


	14. It's been a long, long road

Monday morning.

I felt sick with dread. It was the day that we (Heero and I) would be in school for the first time in our new relationship.

And I felt sick with dread.

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to act. Did Heero not want anyone at school to know about us, that he was gay? Did he want us to just act as we normally did? Would we act like we were a couple? I just didn't _know _what he wanted us to do and – as much as I hated to admit it – I was too scared to ask him. I didn't want him to get angry or offended.

Why yes, if you must know, I am a coward.

But Heero was the best thing in my life since my father had died and I didn't want to do anything to jeopardise it.

Back to the problem, **_I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do_!** Oh! Problem number two began with 'R' and ended with 'elena'. No doubt that there would be fireworks at school when she found out and my life would become more hellish than it already was.

But I had to figure out a solution quick; Heero was coming out of the bathroom and that was my last chance for just the two of us to talk alone. I didn't fancy having the conversation in front of Wufei. The door to the bathroom opened and a puff of steam escaped through the crack.

I panicked.

I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms and began to slowly rock backwards and forwards. I heard the door shut and suddenly there were arms around me, soft fingers caressing my braid, my cheek, whatever they could reach, and a warm voice in my ear gently asking me what was wrong. I allowed him to pull me towards him and my arms came up to wrap around his waist as nuzzled my cheek against his neck and smiled.

"What's wrong?" he whispered again in my ear. I kept silent because I didn't fancy lying to him.

"Duo?" he said firmly.

"Whaaaaat?"

"Are you gonna tell me what is wrong?" Please don't get mad at me, I begged silently as I prepared to ask him.

"I was just wondering…how do you…what do you…do you want…"I let out a frustrated sigh at my inability to form the question. Heero stared at me with infinite patience. I sighed again.

"How do you want us to act at school today?" Comprehension dawned in Heero's eyes and he gave me a small smile.

"Right, well, how do _you_ want us to act in school?" Me! I was taken aback. I was so worried about asking Heero what he wanted that I had completely forgotten to question myself. But as soon as I did, I knew my answer.

"I want us to act how we've been acting for the past few days; I don't want to hide our relationship – I don't care what other people say and do, but I don't want to flaunt it."

"See, well there's your answer." He got off of the bed and made his way over to the wardrobe, rummaging through it. "Now where did I put those jeans?" he mumbled to himself.

Whoa _wait_ a second! That was it?

I broke into a grin.

"Thanks love." I pecked him on the cheek on my way to the bathroom. I turned around just in time to see his smile before I closed the door.

xXx

"_Welcome to hell_. This is cruel and unusual punishment."

"Suck it up Maxwell; you're not the only one who's being imprisoned here."

"Love you too Wufei." I blew him a kiss.

"How disgusting," A voice cut in. I turned around to see Relena, dressed in her short – almost to the point of being indecent – cheerleading outfit and looking her bitchiest. "It's bad enough that you're lusting after Heero, but to be flirting with his brother shamelessly. How disgusting." She reiterated. She seemed very calm, very composed, and so much different from the screaming wreck she'd been when we'd revealed that I was staying with Heero and Wufei.

I was about to reply when I caught sight of Trowa and Quatre coming from the cafeteria I waved my arm and they came over.

"Oh great, the rest of the fags are here. Now all we need is that bitch for the whole gang to be back together."

"Is there a reason why you're here? Or do you just enjoy the presence of our company so much that you can't stay away from us." Wufei smirked lazily at her, looking down his nose at her. I just leaned on Heero's shoulder, grinning. She lost a little of her composure as she sneered back at him. Relena has never liked Wufei; she was just civil to him because of Heero. She sees him as lower than her but he has always looked down on her.

"Don't flatter yourself. You're contaminating my air with your presence."

Trowa took up the narrative. "Really? Then why do you seem attracted to us like a moth to a flame. Why do you come to us every time, if we're so repulsive?"

"Don't be stupid. The only reason why I would ever consider approaching you is because Heero is with you. The rest of you aren't worth my time, especially the street rat that you seem to pity." She glared at me.

I snorted. "Yeah well the only rat I see here is you. You're a vermin and you need to be eliminated. You're a pest that…"

"..isn't worth my time at all." Heero finished off. He carried on staring at her, a blank expression adorning his features. "Why do you persist in pursuing me Relena? You know my friends don't like you, and you know very well that _I_ don't like you."

"But I love you Heero!" She looked up at us with a watery expression on her face, looking like any minute she was going to burst into tears. It was completely and utterly fake. She's perfected that expression over the years – I should know, I always got in trouble because Richard fell for it every time.

"Yeah well, he don't love _you_." I snarled at her as I wrapped my hands around Heero's waist and rested my chin on his shoulder. His hands came up to twine his fingers with mine. I saw Relena glance down and frown at our connected hands, before snapped her head back up to glare at me.

"You stay out of this," she hissed, her façade slipping just a tiny bit again, "When I want your opinion, I'll pay you for it!" She turned back to Heero. "Just tell the truth now, Heero, and we can end all of this. Don't deny it any longer."

I snorted into the fabric of Heero's shirt and I saw the others in various stages of amusement. Quatre actually laughed outright but stopped when Relena glared at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," He said, eyes wide, tone deceptively innocent, "Wasn't that a joke?"

Trowa snickered.

Relena glowered.

Suddenly Meiran came running up to us. She pecked Wufei on the cheek then leaned heavily on him, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey have you seen the Queen of all that is Slutty and Pink? She –" She glanced over her shoulder to where Relena was, face red with rage. "Oh," Meiran sketched a bow at her, "How are you, your Highness!" Wufei let out a low laugh and gave her a long kiss on the lips. I heard Relena mutter something about 'immature children', and then she composed herself and turned to Heero.

"I think it's time to tell everyone the truth Heero."

"You know Relena, you're absolutely right. I can't go on lying to you anymore. You see, I don't love you, I don't like you. In fact, I can't even tolerate your presence. You disgust me and I can't stand your petty jealousy against Duo anymore. It's pathetic, really." Relena looked stricken. Absolutely devastated at the flat unemotional tone he told her all of this.

A shrill _brrrriiiiing! _shattered the tense silence, and there was a brief stampede as students made their way to home room. Soon there was only us and Relena standing in the deserted hallway.

Heero's tone softened, "There is only one person that I love, only one person that I'll ever love. Do you want to know who?" Relena was shaking her head frantically, tears welling up in her eyes, no longer able to deny it when faced with the honest expression on Heero's face.

"That person is Duo."

Then his expression hardened again. "So it's high time that you grew up, left us the hell alone, and realised that stamping your foot and whining won't help you get anything in the real world, you spoilt little brat." And with that, he strode past her, dragging me along by the hand. I hooked Quatre's arm in passing and pulled him along. He in turn yanked Trowa along by the hand and Meiran – not wanting to be left behind – ran after us, hauling Wufei behind her, and grabbed onto Trowa's arm.

"Good bye, your highness," she called out over her shoulder.

We entered homeroom just as a harsh sob resonated behind us.

xXx

Okay, I know Duo seems OOC, but hear me out? His father – his best and only friend – is dead and his mother doesn't seem to love him anymore – she only cares about the money. Richard treats him like shit and Relena is a bitch to him so he basically has no family. He used to be popular but as soon as his 'friends' found out he was gay they switched and now hate him. Trowa, Quatre and Meiran are the only ones that stuck around. Then suddenly, this gorgeous guy, obviously from a high social class, with a great personality and SOH, who wants to be friends with him and even more than that, lovers. This person is the best thing that has ever happened to him and Duo wants him to stay. He seen people who he thought were going to be around forever, take off at the slightest inclination. So he's gonna try his hardest to make sure Heero sticks around.

Thanks to those who reviewed and sorry for the wait! ;

**Deathangelofdarkness**

**Camillian**

**Shinigami88220**

**Silver Cateyes**

All that's left is the epilogue, then after that I might do a sequel when they're in college

Tell me in a review whether I should do a sequel or not!


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue

Enjoy!

xXx

Heero leaned against the door frame of the playroom in the orphanage, watching Duo as he entertained the children. Each small face watched mesmerized, as he animatedly told a story, a few kids having to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by Duo's flailing arms. Heero smirked as yet another child had to lean backwards to avoid getting a black eye from Duo as he made his way slowly across the room towards the group.

Duo was bringing the story he was telling to an end when he felt someone settle down behind him and sawtanned arms wrap around his waist. He turned to see his boyfriend and gave him a smile to which Heero returned. He leaned back against his chest and finished the story.

"…and we lived happily ever after." he said softly a serene smile on his face, which widened considerably when Heero planted a kiss on his temple and tightened his arms around his waist briefly. There was a chorus of 'awwww's from the children gathered around them.

"Duo, is this the same story that you told last time you were here? And the time before that? _And _the time before that?" Heero questioned, an eyebrow raised.

He smiled sheepishly, "Well what can I say? They love the story!" He then turned to the orphans, a grin still fixed firmly on hid features, "Hey would you lot like to play outside?" The answering cry was deafening and there was a stampede as the children hurried toward the back door that led them to the back garden. Heero and Duo took their time getting up; Duo clambering to his feet the extending an arm down to Heero who grasped it around the forearm and hauled himself up, purposefully stumbling forward a bit in order to plant another kiss, this time on Duo's lips. He then snaked an arm around Duo's waist and they made their way outside, stopping by the glass back door and leaning against it.

Watching the children having fun, playing freely in all innocence, brought a sense of calm over Duo. He thought back to what happened after that last confrontation: Relena never talked to them or so much as bothered them again. For someone who was convinced that she was in love she sure got over Heero quickly. That didn't mean that she stopped hating them. No, that final rejection seemed to plant an unyielding loathing in her heart for the six of them.

Duo actually did go back to Richard's house to pick up a few clothes that he'd left behind. On his way out though, he was stopped by his mother who'd wanted to reconcile. Apparently she'd heard from Relena that he was living with someone who was richer than Richard and was hoping to gain access to more money through her son – who'd she'd neglected for over ten years – obviously she didn't essentially say that but that's what she alluded to . Duo'd walked by without saying a word, slamming the door behind him, and had never looked back.

They would all be graduating soon and they'd all sent off their college applications. Heero had even convinced Duo to apply for some in the colonies; apparently L1 has some of the best there are. He'd also made sure that their friends had all applied for off-world colleges so they had a greater chance of all staying together. Quatre was definitely going to an off-world college; his father wanted him to take over the business (and get as far away from his friends and their 'bad' influence as possible) and there was a college on L1 that had a fantastic business studies department. Heero wanted to be a systems analyst; Wufei was trying to go into law; Meiran surprised everyone when she said that she wanted to be a psychologist but now it was impossible to see her as anything else. Duowas studying to become an architect, finally finding something to do with his artistic skills and Trowa wanted to be an engineer.

As Duo waved goodbye to all the children and let Heero pull him towards the exit and out to the car, Duo looked at their joined hands and grinned. He'd been through _hell_ over the last ten years and he hadfigured that thatwas the plan for the rest of his life. But then Heero had entered his life and had become his 'knight in shining armour' so to speak. He'd been put through hell and come through only stronger. As he walked out of the orphanage, he felt that that chapter of his life was over; he would never dwell on it again. There was only the future to look forward to, with his friends behind him all the way and Heero by his side.

xXx

Wow, it's finished. It's all strange when you finish a fic. It's like you've just watched your baby grow up and move out. Anyway there will be a sequel, keep an eye out for. It hasn't got a title yet but I'm working on it. Perhaps _The Beautiful Swan?_ You know from 'The Ugly Duckling'? Sound good? Give me your opinions!

I love all of you reviewers you have all been great! But this isn't goodbye, merely 'see ya next time'.

(And I expect to see each and every one of you next time! –glares-)

Ja!


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